I'm Too Busy to be Missional

The word missional may be new to some of you, and for others, it may be a term associated only with a particular movement. At its core, the word missional is a simple adjective that describes someone (or a church body) who is an intentional participant in God's mission to mankind. It's not a particular activity, not a particular movement, not a particular checklist of things, but an attitude and a lifestyle. Someone who is missional cares enough about God's mission that he or she lives life with that mission in mind.

It is not a word reserved for the extremists or those who are "radical." It is not reserved for clergy, elders, and deacons. It is not reserved for missionaries. Any believer of any age in any occupation can be missional. And Scripture is clear that God is missional, the Gospel is missional, the incarnation of Christ was missional, and the giving of the Holy Spirit is missional. In fact, the entire Bible is missional.

But we're a busy people, and we might think that being missional is something we don't have enough room in our schedules for. I don't have time to add another thing, so I'm not going to even think about becoming missional.

The great thing about being missional is that it's not a program to add to life, but a way of life. It's a way to do everything else.

In his article "10 Simple Ways To Be Missional …without adding anything to your schedule" (http://www.vergenetwork.org/2011/10/04/tim-chester-10-simple-ways-to-be-missional/), Tim Chester has great suggestions on how even busy people can be quite missional. The short version of his list is:

1. Eat with other people 
2. Work in public places 
3. Be a regular (at a restaurant or coffee shop)
4. Join in with what’s going on (rather than starting up your own new thing)
5. Leave the house in the evenings 
6. Serve your neighbors 
7. Share your passion 
8. Hang out with your work colleagues 
9. Walk 
10. Prayer walk

Certainly, we could come up with 20 more ideas just like these. The point is not this list, but the idea of this list. There are things we do every day anyway, and almost every one of those things can be done with a missional mindset and purpose. The key is to build relationships, to make your faith obvious but not obnoxious, and to share truth when people are willing and interested, to do as we learned in the last sermon - to share what you have personally seen and heard. All it takes is willingness and intentionality to take God's mission seriously.

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and cultivate complete followers from all people groups." (Matthew 28:18-19, author's translation).