A Process about the Sending Church
Missional living is definitely a trendy title that is everywhere these days. the concept that we are required to label bodies of Christ, missional, has forever been somewhat strange to me. please, shouldnt all bodies of Christ be missional in their very core? it should be expected from a church, at its very nature, shoot to engage their culture and community with the gospel as a missionary would in a overseas country? Isnt this what the church buildings is commanded to do in the great commission in Matthew 28:19? Our own hometown begs for this style of church. Central Austin churches is slowly going to what Christ instructed in Scripture.
The messiah gives the challenge in Acts 1:8 saying, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 justifies this idea as, right before Jesus Christ ascends to Heaven, He commissions the disciples on a story that would launch right in their personal community. He begins with their hometown of Jerusalem, and then broadens the call to the far parts of the world.
As followers of Christ, we are not urged to social clubs, but to be missional believers who are aggressively going out and finding communities right where they are with the story of Christ. We have noticed this throughout history: God motivated Abraham on a mission to go out of his place of origin and his people and go to the land that God would show him (Gen. 12:1), God motivated Moses on a journey to rescue an enslaved people and lead them to independence (Exodus 3:8-10), God sends Jesus on a exploration to creation to bring back all things to Himself through the cross (Colossians 1:20). And now God is sending the church on a story to engage homes, cities, people groups, and even nations with the story of Christ(Matt. 28:19 Mark 6:7 Luke 10:1 John 20:21 Acts 1:8). If we dont respond to this call and continue to see the bodies of Christ like a members only country club ” encouraging that people resolve their talents, pay their dues, and come to our church God will continue His mission without us.
