A Growth about the Sending Church
Missional church is definitely a popular saying that is anywhere you look these days. the idea that we are required to categorize church buildings, missional, has forever been weird to me. I mean, shouldnt all places of worship be missional in their very character? it should be expected from a church, at its very nature, yearn to connect their culture and area with the message of Jesus as a missionary would in a different country? Isnt it what the bodies of Christ is instructed to do in the great commission in Matthew 28:19? Our own city needs this brand of church. Churches in Austin is slowly gravitating to what our Creator instructed in the Bible.
Christ gives the command in Acts 1:8 saying, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8 exemplifies this idea as, right before Jesus Christ ascends to Heaven, He directs the disciples on a story that would launch right in their personal community. He begins with their area of Jerusalem, and then enlarges the call to the many parts of the creation.
As disciples of Jesus, we are not moved to privacy, but to be missional persons who are actively going out and finding communities right where they are with the story of Christ. We have noticed this throughout history: God motivated Abraham on a mission to go out of his city and his people and go to the city that God would show him (Gen. 12:1), God sends Moses on a journey to rescue an enslaved people and lead them to joy (Exodus 3:8-10), God urges Jesus on a mission to globe to bring back all things to Himself through the blood of Christ (Colossians 1:20). And now God is sending believers on a story to engage neighborhoods, cities, people groups, and even nations with the message of Jesus (Matt. 28:19 Mark 6:7 Luke 10:1 John 20:21 Acts 1:8). If we resist this call and continue to treat the churches like a members only country club ” encouraging that people resolve their abilities, pay their deposit, and walk to our building God will continue His journey without us.
