Last month I heard Bob Myers, pastor of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church in Doylestown, PA, talk about what it means for churches to be relentlessly misional. I’ve been in the missional conversation for quite some time (I even have a Masters in Missonal Theology) but I was incredibly stirred by some fresh thought and language from Bob – thoughts that are worth sharing here.
He began by talking about the importance of recognizing and identifying the dysfunctions of the Church. He listed a few:
Bob continued: “the default method of most churches is to build high walls, shout the gospel over the walls through a loud speaker, and then welcome anyone from the community that might manage to scale the walls.”
Then he gave a profoundly clear paradigm shift: attractional says: “I would like to invite Jesus into my heart” but missional says: “Jesus Christ would like to invite you into His heart.”
A lively and intense (but healthy) discussion followed Bob’s thoughts regarding how do we ‘do’ missional, when my friend Doug Logan, who is planting a church in Camden, New Jersey, said something profound: “when we make missional into a program rather than a reality, we turn the gospel into the parsley rather than the steak. God tucked his shekinah into a skin suit and loved. Now it’s our turn.”
The truth is that Jesus wants to put our sanctification on public display so the world sees what it looks like when life transformation is happening.