Missional- A Double Edged Sword?

Missional: A Double Edged Sword That Cuts Deep
March 23, 2009 - 1:25pm by Thomas

When the idea of missional is spoken of it is almost always in good terms. When a church community is being missional it is living out the gospel all days and at all times. Friendships are closer. The community is more tight knit. There is more than just a "worship service." There is living, breating, heart-beating community.

When anything is living and breathing with a beating heart a cut from a sword hurts. That's kind of obvious, but it didn't really sink in until a bunch of "stuff" (for a lack of a better or worse word) happened within our community at The Plant. No one worry, everything is alright and I am still having a blast being part of a community that is trying to find its way on a journey toward being missional in suburbia, but being missional, though it is great to be a close knit community and build strong friendships, well, sometimes being missional kind of sucks. It cuts deep.

None of this used to matter at the big evangelical churches I had attended over the past few years. Someone lives in disobedience, someone likes another church better, someone wants to worship at night, someone wants a better kids program, someone wants a drama or dance team----these were all excuses that rolled of the shoulders of the big evangelical church. People were consumers. That was the model that made or broke you. And it was just a fact of life being in that type of community. The vast majority of the time it was no big deal when a person or family left a church. They just attended.

In our missional community you don't just attend. You participate. You're not a member, you're a partner. There is a big difference. It's a great, awesome, and powerful difference. But sometimes it hurts. Becuase when people matter, their stuff matters, and their leaving or gossip or sins or anger now really matter. They rip the fabric of the community. They breed malice and bitterness and distrust.

I am really beginning to understand the nervousness I have always sensed in Paul and Peter's letters but never been able to relate to until now. When you are in a purposeful community the ugly side of church becomes a much higher stakes game. Missional is a double edged sword that cuts into the hearts of peoples lives and brings them to follow Christ, but it also, when something goes wrong, cuts deep.

So what to do? Well, nothing. Jesus or the apostles never said it would be easy. Christ gives us an easy burden, but it is still a burden. It is still sometimes hard.

It may not be a coincidence that the various ordeals of our church plant have crept up during Lent. As we remember Christ's time in the wilderness, his temptations, his foreshadowed crucifixion, it's comforting in a way beyond words. Christ has gone before us and has been tempted in everyway. He also had great joy in life spending time with his disciples. He also got angry or frustrated with them. Being a group is complicated.

That's it. No words of wisdom from me other than: being missional---living in community---it's complicated.

But I wouldn't trade it for anything,

Even if it hurts sometimes.

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