Christendom and its dimming light

There has been a lot of talk in recent years about being a “Missional Church”. The problem with any phrase that people rally around is that it can be interpreted in various ways. The term “Missional Church” for many of our churches was interpreted to mean that they had a missions committee or supported missionaries. For other congregations it may have meant more than just supporting missions but actively participating in them. The problem is that both those views of the “Missional Church” I think miss the mark of what the phrase really means to those of us that are striving to be Missional in our faith.

At the heart of the communication gap is the cultural gap that we are experiencing as Christians in the Western world. For centuries the prominent world view of our culture was the Christian world view. It had its benefits because it gave us a common language and platform to talk about moral issues and “good vs bad”. This Christendom was also a problem, because one could share the world view and not have it rooted in the relationship of a loving God. As a result Christendom also gave us examples of society treating the less fortunate or outsider in terrible ways because they were “bad”. How many of us have heard the terrible stories of the unwed mothers and their treatment in earlier times, or the physically abusive husband who was never confronted because he was the “man of the house”.

In Christendom we could be missional by just saying “do what you know is right”. But in a culture that was increasingly rejecting that same world view, doing the right thing meant something very different to various audiences. So “Missions” in may of our Christendom churches amounted to “christianizing” people by having them subscribe to a set of beliefs and behaviors that will hopefully lead to a deeper understanding of Christ, and a vital, personal intimate relationship with Him.

So if being Missional isn’t about convincing some one of a set of beliefs or behavior to lead them to a spiritual awakening, what is it? Well let me give it a shot.

Being Missional is not about supporting missions in the traditional sense. It is about being the mission in a new sense. That means refusing to see our churches as a place where we serve each other, and reinforce our world view and inward focused society. It means seeing our churches as a community that serves the world. Instead of targeting the sinner and presenting a “gospel” and demanding a response, the Missional church sees itself as part of the world, proclaiming Christ by way of service and, as Brian McClaren calls it “building spiritual friendships”, thus relying on community and Spirit to speak to lives - rather than intellect and arguments.

It’s a fine line I know, but as our cultures and communities move further way from Christendom, will we still be viewing mission in its dimming light? Or will we be the mission reading Christ’s story into the culture that surrounds us, sharing our stories, making friends and being instruments used by the Spirit to reveal truth and Life.