The Missional Incarnational Christian

The Missional Christian

The Missinal Incarnational Christian

Go into all the world and make disciples

This page is a work in progress...

This page is designed to help you as a Christian to be missional and
incarnational. I recognize that many of you may be part of an attractional
church. As I have said before, attractional churches have their place. And
perhaps you are very comfortable there. I am not here to discourage you
from that (though you never know what God has in store). If you are in
leadership or even if you are not you may have noticed that it is very difficult
to get large groups of people to change. Thus the missional church model,
while it is appealing, may be practically impossible to lead an established
church into. Therefore I have put together this web page to help you to be
missional even if your church as a whole is not. This may be the more
realistic model with your church acting as a home base where you are
refreshed and renewed.)

How can we describe the missional incarnational Christian? Well we describe
him / her the same way we describe the missional church.

The missional Christian leaves the building.
The missional Christian is cross-cultural.
The missional Christian is incarnational

What does it mean when I say the missional Christian leaves the building?

What this means simple enough is that the missional Christian is not a
Christian just at church only but in all of life – at work, as school, at home,
etc. Additionally you may have a specific calling to a specific group of people
such as the homeless, the poor, the hungry etc. The missional Christian (like
the Missional Church does not base all of his or her outreach on attracting
people to church. The missional church goes where the people are rather than
waiting for the people to come to them. This should be the same for the
missional Christian.

What does it mean when I say the missional Christian is cross-cultural?

We in the church are often insulated and isolated in understanding other
faiths and cultures. The missional Christian takes time and effort to
understand the culture they are in. There are many ways to do this. You can
study. You can go to seminars. You can ask people questions about what
they believe and why. While you may not agree about everything you will
hopefully come to a better understanding about why people have certain
beliefs and practices.

What does it mean when I say the missional Christian is incarnational?

Beyond just understanding the culture the missional Christian enters the
culture. They use that culture’s language. They translate their
understanding of Christ into a language that the people God is giving them a
love for can understand.

But how do you do all of this? Here are some guidelines.....

Know the people God is giving you a love for...

Who is God giving you a love for or a calling to? …..

If it is for your co-workers .. What do they care about? Are there any
needs? What things do they do that you can relate to? Here are some
b ooks you might findhelpful.

If it is the for the poor .. work at a soup kitchen help at a homeless
shelter .. Learn the people story behind the poverty. Break free of
biases you may have had. Here are some links you might use.

If it is for inner city issues .. work with an inner city church. Get to
understand the culture and how they think. What sense of hope do
they have? What rules their thinking? Here are some links you might
use.

If it is people of different religious beliefs then ask them what they
believe. Ask them to explain their beliefs to you. Understand what
they believe and why. Seek to understand, if they are hostile to
Christianity, why they are hostile. Here are some links you might use.

If it is prison ministry read books on prison ministry. Find out about
injustices. Find out about the horrible things that happen to people in
prison. Here are some links you might use.

If it is to the red light district seek to understand the woman who do
this. What issues are they dealing with? What poverty are they trying
to get out of? What need s do they have? What shame are they caught
in? What is their sense of self esteem? How can you show a different
life to them? How can you bring hope? Here are some links you might
use.

If it is to lgbt individuals read books as listed on the GLBT reference
page. Take a survey of glbt individuals and seek to understand their
viewpoint. Hint: I already took a survey. See the survey page for the
results of that survey. See also this link that takes you to a page that
specifically talks about this culture.

Examine your politics, beliefs, and attitudes

What politics beliefs and ideals are blockades to your reaching out to these
people or are blockades to them relating to you and thus to Jesus. Here are
some examples……

If your outreach is to prisoners on death row you probably would not
want to be gung-ho on the death penalty.

If your outreach is to the red light district then you would not want to
be eager to put prostitutes in jail

If your outreach is to the poor then you probably would not have the
ideaology that they are choosing to be poor or it’s all their own fault.

If your outreach is to people that are immigrants then your attitudes
about illegal immigrants had better not be hostile ie you don’t work the
border patrol.

If your outreach is to the alcoholic then you are hopefully not politically
active in M.A.D.D. (there is nothing wrong with M.A.D.D. – it is just
not consistant with helping alcoholics)

And if your outreach is to lgbt individuals then your politics would
hopefully not be against lgbt individuals receiving fair treatment in
society and you hopefully would not be like those who want to
criminalize the actions of lgbt individuals

So .... ask yourself some questions....

What political principles are in conflict with my witness of the love of
Christ?

Are there different biblical principles I can apply to my politics that
would show the love of Christ?

Here is an example:

Like most conservative Christians I am pro-life. But how do I express that
view. Is it with signs of partially aborted babies? Is this the best way? Yes
you might “rescue” one mother but how many others might you have
offended? I am not judging you in this. I am asking you to assess your
ministry.

For years I heard people say that if we were truly pro-life we would care about
the mother but I dismissed these critiques. But now I feel differently. The
mother is a person too. The questions I might ask myself are:

What am I doing politically and practically to understand the mother
that wants to have an abortion.

Do I understand her needs? What am I doing to meet those needs?

What am I doing to help her out of her social economic status and give
her hope?

How do my political convictions help her.

What political programs would give her the support she needs?

What can I do personally that would help in this area?

Acting on the answers to these questions will take a lot more time and energy
than carrying a sign for a day. It will take a personal investment in the lives
of others.

Make every effort to be incarnational...

Paul says in I Corinthains 9:19-22 that he makes all effort to relate to others
on their wavelength. To the Jew he is like a Jew. To those not under Jewish
law he is like them. To the weak he is also weak. He is all things to all
people (not to be a push over) but so that he can communicate the gospel
effectively.

This is not just an empty philosophy of the Apostle Paul. This was truly what
he practiced. When Paul wanted to speak to his fellow countrymen, the Jews,
he spoke to them in the synagogues where they normally met. He spoke to
them in their language using illustrations they could understand (See Acts 13:
13-48). He also used his knowledge of the patriarchs in speaking to his fellow
Jews to show them about being justified by faith and not by following works of
the law (See Romans 4).

But, when Paul was speaking to philosophers he did not use Old Testament
stories. He used their own idol to an unknown god to introduce them to Jesus
(see Acts 17:16-34) He used things said by their own poets their own
philosophers. This is our challenge.

For those times when you witness about Jesus, avoid bible tracts. Put your
moment of coming to know Jesus in story form. Know the biblical principles
but don’t speak from there. Speak from your heart. Here are some
questions your story should answer:

How did you come to know Jesus?

How has knowing Jesus helped you in your life?

Why is knowing Jesus important to you?

What needs to change in you to reach the people God is
giving you a love for?

Don’t rely on tradition on this. Much of what we do or don’t do is based on
church tradition some of which may have little to do with scripture. So be
biblical. Hint: look at tale of two bars. Most church members would find this
totally out of line with their denomination. I'll admit it makes me a little
nervous. (Obviously if you are a recovered alcoholic this is not the path for
you) But Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners (see Matthew 9:9-11) So
much so that he was called a drunkard (see Luke 7:33-35). What box is God
calling you out of?

Finally ….. make the change

Take the necessary steps. They may be baby steps at first. They may be
missteps but they will be steps. Launch into the culture God has called you
to. Love the people God wants you to love. Care about the people God wants
you to care about. Expect to make mistakes ... nobody's perfect.

The missional incarnational Christian does not ask how many converts they’ve
won or how many arguments they've argued. They ask: ‘Have I shared the
love of Christ with someone else today? ‘ Their success is not measured in the
number of souls saved but in the people they have touched

Missional Church