x

xx

 Mission Moments

Center for U. S. Missions              November 12, 2004

 Following Jesus into the U.S. mission field    

x

Teaching to Obey Rather Than to Know

By Mike Ruhl

In recent research and writing, missiologist Milfred Minatrea assembles a fresh and challenging portrait of the missional congregation. A missional congregation is a reproducing community of authentic disciples, being equipped as missionaries sent by God, to live and proclaim His kingdom in their world.  Such a congregation views "mission" as a matter of being and doing, not simply "sending, praying and supporting."  Mission is participative, not simply representative. In fact, mission is the essence of its very existence, not simply one expression of a diverse ministry.

In his book Shaped by God's Heart--The Passion and Practices of Missional Churches, Minatrea identifies nine "essential practices" of the missional congregation.

Earlier Mission Moments summarized the first two essential practices, High Threshold Membership (click here to view) and Be Real, Not Religious (click here to view).

A third essential practice of the missional congregation is teaching to obey rather than to know. Christians are reminded and instructed about what Christians do, not simply what they are. The goal of biblical instruction is obedience to God, rather than just the transmission of information and accumulation of knowledge.

The saints and ministry staff of the missional congregation demonstrate a high commitment to the study of the Word of God. A variety of teaching methods produce not just information, but transformation. Scripture teaching equips the saints for active participation in God's mission. It has a definite action outcome which facilitates active obedience to the great Gospel-imperative, the Great Commission. Such an orientation does not diminish the value or validity of theological reflection, for what is known of God is enhanced by obedience, especially as disciples observe the impact of the Word of God on people engaged in spiritual pilgrimage.

By the way, Minatrea's research indicates also that missional communities often help their members to obey the Scriptures through emphasis placed on classical Christian disciplines, such as meditation, prayer, fasting, solitude, submission, service, and simplicity. Although the disciplines hold no special power or grace in and of themselves, a hunger and thirst for righteousness and holy lifestyle can be cultivated by the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God in the context of the spiritual disciplines.

Such research challenges some of our traditional approaches to biblical education and discipleship training. Perhaps we are in need of such a challenge. And perhaps we need to be reminded of the ancient quip:  Is it not significant that the history of the first century church is called the Book of Acts, not the Book of Truths?

Research

In The Good News About Generation X &Y, published August 5, 2002 on Christianitytoday.com, Christianity Today talked to author Colleen Carrol about her book The New Faithful: Why Young Adults Are Embracing Christian Orthodoxy.  More and more authors are finding these research results to be accurate. Here are a few findings from this research;

1. Young adults are reacting in large part against a lot of what they grew up in or what they’ve seen around them--not only in the media and popular culture, but even in their churches.  Among Protestants, there is a swing against mainline Protestantism in some cases.

2. They are very concerned about being in a church where the Word is preached and not compromised by other concerns.

3. There is an intense hunger for spirituality.

4. The crux of their struggle is how they live the orthodox faith in a culture that is not orthodox.

5. A lot of these young people are zealous about evangelism, so intent on transforming culture with this gospel that has changed their lives.

6. They seem to be attracted to modern classics.  For example, they read C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton.

7. They want the “hard” Gospel.  They want the preachers or a priest to tell it like it is, to give them morality that they believe is sound and doesn’t simply cater to their whims.

8.  Many from this generation are attracted to contemporary worship that is similar to what you’d see in young adult or Generation X services at larger churches. But the author found that many are attracted to more traditional or liturgical worship; these are often the ones who weren’t raised in this form of worship.  They believe the presence of Christ is in the Eucharist--but many have a charismatic flair such as raising their hands.  Some prefer to sit on the floor and appreciate a more casual gathering.

9. The emphasis on serving the poor is of real interest to these younger evangelicals.

10.  Many statistics suggest that the dissatisfaction these young adults have with secularism and materialism is shared by many of their peers, Christian or not.  That suggests that many more in this generation may join this trek toward orthodoxy in the years to come.

 Quotes

“There are several good reasons to believe that the normal Christian life becomes entirely undone when it is not lived in the presence of other believers, in regular acts of worship and service.” From an article by Brian Kay in the book The Relevant Church, A New Vision for Communities of Faith; Lake Mary, FL: Relevant Books, 2004.

“People in their twenties are looking for something that demands their whole lives from them.  They are looking for a God in whom they can find identity and purpose for living. 

They are hungry to hear who God is, what God wants form them, what God has done for them.  They are hungry to study Scripture in depth… Those seeking God typically attend church to seek God, not to hear a year’s worth of “how-to“ seminars. From an article by Dustin Bagby in the book The Relevant Church, A New Vision for Communities of Faith; Lake Mary, FL: Relevant Books, 2004.

Links

http://www.cforc.com/sgifts.html This is a link to a site where you can download, or take on line, a spiritual gift inventory.  (The online version is presently unavailable due to the site changing servers.) The inventory is by Peg Ramsey and is used by the Texas District in their In His Service materials. The Texas District grants permission for our readers to use this inventory.

News from the Center

Remote Webcast for Groups Ablaze: On November 5-6, the Center for U.S. Missions, together with the Texas District, sponsored a Groups Ablaze seminar in Austin, TX. Over 80 people attended the training in Austin while 6 others in Lubbock, Texas, joined in through our first remote webcast. For our first try, the training went very well.  We all had a high learning curve about what works and what doesn’t work.  The response from the Lubbock group was good.  This means that we are ready to do this in other locations.  Webcasts are simultaneous with live seminars. The webcast fee is $500 for one congregation in one location, or $1000 for two or more congregations viewing the webcast at the one location. You can have as many people at a site as the location will hold.  For districts that are spread out this works very well and saves on transportation costs.

x

Mission Moments is a biweekly electronic newsletter from the Center for U.S. Missions, designed to bring information and encouragement to all who desire to share the God’s great love in Jesus Christ with others.

The Center for U.S. Missions provides research and training for mission work among unevangelized people in the United States. A partnership of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Mission Services, Concordia University in Irvine, California, and the North America Mission Executives of the LCMS, the Center serves all Christian denominations.

Contact us at: http://www.centerforusmissions.org

1530 Concordia West; Irvine, CA 92612-3299; 949-854-8002 x1780; fax 949-854-6854;

Mike Ruhl, Executive Director, mike.ruhl@cui.edu;

Ken Behnken, Director of Training; ken.behnken@cui.edu;

John Dostal, Coordinator

Karen Kogler, Mission Moments editor; mailto:karen.kogler@cui.edu

To unsubscribe (or to subscribe if you received this as a forward), go to

 http://www.centerforusmissions.org/centerforusmissions/newsletters or send us an email.

x