imagining how the church can reorient around mission

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"The church doesn't exist for itself; it exists to serve the world. It is not ultimately about the church; it's about the people God wants to bless through the church. When the church loses sight of this, it loses its heart."

From Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell

Here's a little bit more from Barth for you (from the book, “The Witness of God”):

“Must not the faithful, the most convinced missionary think seriously about the fact that the concept ‘missio’ in the ancient church was a term from the doctrine of the Trinity, the designation of the divine self sending, the sending of Son and Holy Spirit into the world?” p. 108

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"The local church in much of Europe is like a crippled man.  We must not turn in disgust and abandon this hurting man.  We also must not criticize him for how he got himself in this position, or walk around him to get our task done.  We must come alongside him and help him to walk straight and powerfully.  Indeed, this man could bring great hope to his people if first healed and directed onward!" read more

Diego is a part of one of our projects in Latin America.  The Project's name is El Living   Listen as he explains the unique nature of doing mission in Uruguay.

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 Just in from Spokane where Rob Fairbanks and I facilitated our second session of INFUSE, CA’s training in the theology and practice of missionary living. Some 70 – 80 leaders, missional pioneers and church folk participated in this second beta. From a presenter standpoint I think it went okay, though I feel I have yet to find a stride in presenting some of Lesslie Newbigin’s ideas. On a conceptual and very practical level, Newbigin has really helped me understand the church’s call in a much broader and more positive light. When Newbigin returned to his native England in 1974 after decades of cross-cultural immersion and ministry all across India, he recognized the dire need of his own culture to have what he called “a missionary encounter with the gospel.” The church in the UK had lost its ability to relate to the lives of normal people. It had failed to listen and adapt to the soundings of context, which left it seriously crippled in its capacity to interact and juxtapose its own key Story within the cultural milieu of secularism and emerging postmodern diversity. The gospel (which literally means “good news”) was no longer viewed as relevant to the needs and lives of Western people.

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Here's another important (and well thought out) take on the Driscoll, McDonald Multi-site video clip by David Fitch.  Hit the link to see his whole post (You can watch the video on my last post and read some more of my thoughts on the subject on this post). You owe it to yourself to read David's thoughts. read more

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