There is a bridge somewhere in Central America that was originally built to span over a significant river. Today after floods widened the river, the bridge sits on solid land with the river flowing either side of it. It is literally a bridge to nowhere - isolated from any usefulness. I wonder - is this a picture of the church today? Who are we trying to reach? Has our reason for being in existence changed? Are we cut off from being effective - not doing what we were originally designed to do - like this bridge - because the circumstances around us have changed?
I heard recently of a vicar who was trained under the old C of E model of the church in the middle of a village. Everyone came to the church - it was the centre of the village literally and socially. Mission wasn't actually necessary - people just came because it was the way of life. It was the thing you did. The vicar was looked up to and whose advice was sought and respected. He basically was there to do births, marriages, and funerals and weekly services - of course. Now as he heads toward the later stages of his ordained ministry he has realized that model has changed and the church MUST change too - in order to carry out the work of God - mission. Because you see…………MISSION STARTS WITH GOD.
At our clergy conference in July the keynote speaker made this statement………
'Mission has its origin in God. God is a missionary God, a God who crosses frontiers towards the world. In creation God was already the God of mission, with his Word and his Spirit as missionaries. God likewise sent his incarnate Son into the world.'
God created the world and its people for relationship - with each other - and with him. And when these broke down he sent Jesus into the world to restore those relationships. When you think about it, through OT times and through the ages, God has gone to extraordinary lengths to do this. So God has always been about mission - connecting people with each other and with himself - to spread his love. David Bosch says -
'Mission has its origin in the heart of God. God is a fountain of sending love. This is the deepest source of mission. It is impossible to penetrate deeper still: there is mission because God loves people.'
Love originates from God. He is the source of love, so love is at the heart of everything about God. That is his purpose for us and all he does. John 3:16 is the constant reminder of this - greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. God was prepared to go to that extraordinary length in order to reconcile the relationship between him and us.
Our mission statement for our church here is "Connecting People and Christ to bring healing, hope, and life." It is our stated intent, and desire that everyone comes into a loving personal relationship with God. That personal relationship is SO important. That it isn't just an intellectual connection with God - a trying to understand what God is all about. But it is a relationship of the heart - of our innermost being - that you just know you have a special connection with him - like you do in any other love relationship - it is almost un-definable - but it is so very real to those in the relationship. So what does mission mean for us as God's church?
I have a couple of quotes that will help us understand what it is. Think about them………
1. ‘The Church of God does not have a mission but the God of mission has a Church.’ (Tim Dearborn.)
Doesn't that actually make it easier for us? Because it is saying we are simply part of what God wants to do anyway. In fact without us, how would he carry out his mission?! God has us, as his church, to do mission. It is what he expects of us. What a privilege that God trusts us to do his mission for him!!! We shouldn't even be debating or discussing this. It should just be who we are as a church. Instead of thinking about organising programmes or activities to take care of ourselves we must be going about mission.
2. 'There is church because there is mission, not vice versa.' (David Bosch)
So are we doing it right? Is our focus truly missional? If we were intentional about this, the result would be that God's Kingdom would grow in the hearts and minds of his people that would translate into caring for each other and loving each other as a natural Spiritual outworking of this. The Great Commission was given by Jesus to his disciples that they should GO and make disciples themselves - and THEN baptise - or welcome them into the family of God, his church. It wasn't the other way around. We are commanded to go and make disciples. Jesus was very clear and definite about this.
Peter tells us in his first epistle that the church consists of the followers of Christ. It is those people. It is not a building. It is the people of God.
In the passage Vickie read this morning Paul is saying
1 CORINTHIANS 9:19-23
n 19 I have made myself a slave to all so that I might win more of them.
n 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew,
n 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law
n 22 I have become all things to all people
n 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel
It is obvious to me how important it is to relate well to people in THEIR setting - not in ours. And the reason?
'As far as possible he (Paul) has deliberately identified himself with those whom he has sought to win for the gospel.' Morna Hooker
Why would he do that? Remember Paul as Saul set out to destroy the Christians, so now why would he go out of his way to deliberately identify with them? He says -
‘I do it all for the sake of the gospel.’ 1 Cor. 9:23. It was purely to spread the good news of Jesus.
Paul's missionary methods were very straight forward and simple - as you would expect of Paul - he was very direct………
‘What Paul describes is the self identification of Christ with men and women which, in turn, results in their sharing in what he is.’ Morna Hooker
So Paul is encouraging the Christians in Corinth to identify themselves with Christ - not just to meet our own needs - to acknowledge him as not only Saviour - but also as Lord - and so to imitate him in his attitudes and methods and way of living. Paul says -
‘Be imitators of me as I am of Christ.’ (1 Cor.11:1) Firstly as………
A slave
Remember Jesus said - "I came not to be served but to serve." Then how can we do anything but do likewise? Paul also said he became as one………
Outside the Law
This doesn't mean that we are above the law of the land and that we can do anything we like. It means we need to be above the pharisaical attitude of sticking to the extreme letter of the law - of traditions - of ritual - of religiosity. Instead we need to be living a life of love and servant hood as Jesus modeled.
Last weekend I met Dave. He has a ministry to bikkies. He has placed himself in the world of the bikkies, but not of it. Why? To win them for Christ. He is definitely not of the traditional priest mould. He has long hair, a bushy drooping moustache, and a God Squad patch on his T shirt. But he was a person who deeply impressed me with his love for and his commitment to be mission for his Lord and Saviour. Religiosity doesn't enter his mindset. And yet those people he has this contact with regard him as their priest even though he isn't ordained as one, such is the recognition of something very different about him for them. That something they probably aren't able to yet recognize as being "Christ in Dave." Yet in his way, Dave is able to provide that connection between the bikkies and Christ.
To connect people and Christ is what God needs his church for to carry out his mission.
BUT contrary to what we often think - it isn't actually OUR mission. Clark Pinnock has said God’s work is………
‘Mission is a Spirit event – it is God’s mission, not ours. It is not a duty following the work of Christ but is itself God’s work.'
That is very important to recognize. We mustn't get involved in God's mission out of a sense of duty. Each one of us has a particular corner of God's mission field that he has prepared us to serve him in. Seeing he has prepared us for it specifically we must be careful we find that corner he has for us by recognizing: our passion for where we are to serve; our calling from God; and our gifting.
About 3 years ago a passage from 2 Timothy 1:6-9 made a huge impact on me. We mustn't do something out of a feeling of duty because as Paul says in this passage we have each been given a gift to use for God and a spirit of power (the power of the Holy Spirit). We are called to live a holy life. God requires us first and foremost to live a life of godly character (fruit of the Spirit) even before a life of service. So we seek to live out our faith when and where purely because of God's grace and purpose for us. This takes away the burden of striving because God has prepared everything for us and will enable us. All we have to do is be available. God will do the rest.
There are many fresh frontiers of ministry - they are anywhere God places you. Anything goes really. We just have to put aside that traditional church model and thinking. Church isn't just here on a Sunday - in a building - with a Vicar. The model is changing from just meeting our own needs - to GO, as Jesus told us to do, to meet the needs of others where they are most comfortable and love being.
Not every one of us has a calling to a specific ministry/outreach area. In our church we have people involved in ministry to the Elderly, DrugArm, the Indian community, Arohata, and so on, for example. Those could develop into new ways of being church - fresh frontiers of mission. AND………not everyone is called to be in the frontline. But those ministries cannot function without support bases - of prayer - encouragement - resourcing - and so on. But we must be involved because without everyone of us, God's mission cannot be fulfilled.
Our involvement at the very least must be in our families, to our neighbours, in our workplace, wherever we are called to live. It is non-negotiable. If we profess that Jesus is Lord, we have that call on our lives to be God's mission in our particular worlds.
In finishing, I challenge you to consider these questions:
Are we as this church here in Churton Park - like the bridge - cut off from the people God wants us to connect with? If we are, what are we prepared to do about it?
Are we willing to be courageous like the early pioneers - to press forward into fresh frontiers - to take a risk for Christ?
Or will we stay like that bridge - built for a specific purpose even though circumstances have changed, but people no longer COME to us.
Will we instead GO to them?
I really pray that we will.
