Definer Questions

There have been a few people in my life who have asked me "definer questions." That's my made-up term for questions that cut through all the complexities of an issue and lay the real issue bare in clear, simple terms. Some of these definer questions have lead to successful major life decisions.

There are presently two related definer questions that I am mulling over these days, targeted specifically to the research that we've been doing on discipleship (in large part from Jimmy's efforts).

The first definer question comes out of a study I did with a couple of students over the last year. I figured two young men at the beginning of their lives as adults would benefit greatly from Paul's words to Timothy, who was also facing a world as "the young guy." For each passage of the text, we discussed structure and meaning, but then I always brought it around to the same question each week: What does this mean for being a fully committed follower of Jesus?

Invariably, there would be an awkward silence. We just finished talking about the passage and thought we had a handle on it. But then after this question popped out, all of us realized that we hadn't really mined the depths of the passage. We would look at the passage again and again, and begin to appreciate the layers of the text. Eventually, we'd begin to offer answers to the question - answers that made us uncomfortable because of the cost necessitated by discipleship. But what rich discomfort it was!

The second definer question is more focused on how to evaluate and improve our ministries here at Grace. There are many good things we can do in church ministry - far too many to do all of them. There are things that we've always done - many of which we should continue doing, but others perhaps not. (For example, we didn't do a carnival this summer because it was not the best use of our energy this year.) That question is: Is this the best way to cultivate complete followers of Jesus?

This question helps us keep our focus on our priorities and not put our effort into any number of good things that keep us from the great things. There are a lot of good ways to disciple others, but we want to do the best things we can to cultivate complete followers.

We just had a discussion among some of the leaders about a particular opportunity. So I posed this second question. What transpired was great dialog with quite a spread of opinions, but the differences don't scare me. The dialog was the kind of authentic discussion that we must have for us to keep on mission, with everyone contributing truly pertinent thoughts specific to our church's highest priorities. We may have missed some important ideas if we didn't have a definer question. A definer question gave us a means to navigate a tough issue and to make some decisions now as well as fuel further discussions later. It gave us clarity for the process of evaluating this and other issues.

What are one or two "definer questions" for your life's mission?

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).