I've been reading The Shaping of Things to Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st-Century Church, by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch. I find that I have to stop every few lines and underline a profound comment or thought and pause every page or so to let their common sense application of scripture to our contemporary society and practice of church. My reading has prompted me to re-examine the way I practice my faith and teach Christianity to those in my circle of influence. I have begun asking "what if?" a great deal!
What if we didn't spend so much time focusing on ourselves as practitioners of faith and focused more on other's needs - especially those of those who don't yet profess our faith?
What if instead of assigning folks within our memberships to committees and teams to keep our church machine going, we equiped them and commissioned them to minister where they already live and work?
What if instead of holing up inside of our church walls (seeking sanctuary from the influences "out there") we made "out there" a sanctuary where we worship God with our whole lives (Romans 12)?
What if, instead of spending millions on new church facilities, we used that money to care for the poor, broken hearted, and jailed, making sure everyone had the "cup of water" Jesus told us about?
What if, instead of going once a week as a group to the nursing home to cheer the residents with a song or a testimony we had each person in our group adopt a resident for personal ministry over the whole year?
What if, instead of going once a week to play with kids in the trailer park or the Hispanic community we assigned each student a family to minister to from their first year in college through their senior year? What difference could that student make in their lives as a tutor, mentor, "Mr." or "Ms. Fix-it," and family friend?
What if we took seriously the idea that we should be "in the world" and made every where we go our mission field instead of seeing missions and ministry as something we do only in the summer or on special trips or as some other reserved portion of our lives?
1 comment:
Hey...
Finally picked up The Shaping of Things to Come today. Haven't gotten past the introduction yet, but I'm going to catch up in the next couple of days. Looks like it's going to be a great read...
Funny...you said you have to stop every few lines and underline a profound comment...I have to stop and re-adjust my eyes! This has to be the smallest and tightest print in any book I've read in a long time! Not to fear, though...my new BI-FOCALS will be ready tomorrow! Man, it stinks to get old!
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