I've had a funny down week. Perhaps I'm tired or perhaps I'm just frustrated, or both. One of those weeks where I'm like 'how Lord are you gonna fit all those amazing visions and dreams and passions I have about mission and community and make it useful?' I am half way through my Bible studies this year and can't help thinking, 'What’s round the corner?' However without God in all these dreams and passions they are just great ideas. But I have to trust that all this learning and studying will lead me into the direction he wants me to take.
The more I read about mission and evangelism the more I'm convinced that they are not as separated as missiologists and church leaders may make out. Traditionally evangelism is seen as 'proclamation' of the gospel and conversion of unbelievers and possibly discipleship (though I might dare to suggest the latter is often missed out!). Mission is regarded as something much broader, often including social action, reaching the poor, fighting for issues of injustice etc...And in churches the 'mission' bit is often left to those who go overseas or are sent on random yearly projects in the local town. To put it another way mission is often see as the umbrella to evangelism. However once we delve into these areas all sorts of questions are asked, 'Is the most important aspect of mission about spreading the gospel and seeing people saved?' What about social action? What about the Holy Spirit - maybe he does it all for us and we can quit even thinking about these things.....Why do we divorce everything from each other? We love to do that in our Western mindsets (still heavily Greek saturated -seeMy Big Fat Greek Mindset).
If mission is just about social action then we are just glorified social workers
If mission is just about fighting for political issues then we are just politicians
If mission is just proclamation of the gospel then we are just preaching.
The Holy Spirit must direct where we go but that doesn't mean we are divorced from the equation. As I read I am convinced of one thing. It's all about the life of Christ spilling out of us. If we are so consumed by the presence of Christ in us it will literally spill out like a fragrance. We will naturally proclaim Christ as we hang out with people because we are so excited about Him! We will want to feed the hungry because we will have the same gut wrenching compassion for those around us. As Newbigin says,
"Jesus said as he was on the cross, "where I am, there shall my servant be" (John 12:26). The one who has been called and loved by the Lord, the one who wishes to love and serve the Lord, will want to be where he is. .....At the heart of mission is simply the desire to be with him and to give him the service of our lives. At the heart of mission is thanksgiving and praise. We distort matters when we make mission an enterprise of our own in which we can justify ourselves by our works.....the Church's mission began as the radioactive fallout from and explosion of joy. When it is true to its nature, it is so to the end. Mission is an acted out doxology. That is its deepest secret. Its purpose is that God may be glorified." (Newbigin The Gospel In A Pluralist Society, p127)
The disciples and apostles in the Early Church were absoluetly enthused by the life of Christ, it literally flowed out of them. Even Paul said that all his intellect and eloquent preaching was nothing without Christ's life living in him. I am absolutely convinced that mission and evangelism cannot be seperated from Christ. The ministry, death and resurrection of Christ by the Holy Spirit must somehow be incarnate in us to such a degree that a joy busts out of us to those around us. That is what I call mission and evangelism.
Below are links to some interesting community and mission projects in the UK to inspire you:
Urban Expressions
Community Mission
Eden Network
Global Connections
XLP
