Week 1: Tuesday | What is Missional?

Read: Genesis 12: 1-7

Abraham wasn’t given many of the specifics. In fact, all he was told was that the blessing God was giving him would extend through him to the whole world. Throughout the scriptures, we see God calling his followers to live a life of “sentness.” Stability, social comfort, relational control, safety, success, respect, or clarity were not expected. People had to go purely out of obedience, a personal sense of calling, in faith, and simply because they loved God. Outcome didn’t matter; faithfulness did.

Jesus asked his disciples to leave their nets while still clueless. As they walked and lived with him, they learned that his ways challenged their ways. In fact, his plans would often pull them into the unknown and into situations that forced them to trust the miraculous.

People who wanted to follow without adjusting their lives were often repelled by his honesty. “The Son of Man has no place to lay his head,” he told the teacher of the law. The night Jesus ate with his disciples, he gave them the clear sense that after he left they’d be wandering the world, despised and on the run, led only by the Holy Spirit. In each of the letters from Paul we observe the early faith communities facing many tensions related to being sent.

There’s no way to say it gently: spreading God’s blessing to the world does not come easy.  Christian people are a people on the move, constantly sent by God to the world. To be missional is the call of every church.

Journal/Text Question: Does the idea of being sent scare you or excite you?