Action

As Christ followers "we know that we cannot make a difference if we are not taking action."    That comment from Steve Saccone's book Protege really hits the mark when we think about being a church on mission.   He goes on to write:  "We spend lots of time thinking about mission.  We may even feel guilty for not doing it well enough, if we even do it at all.  The reality is the church is more know for mission statements than for doing the mission." (165)   "Mission is a call to action." (168)   "Mission is the difference between having an emotion and actually doing something about it.  It is putting our money where our mouth is, adding works to our faith, sending ourselves out to the front lines ...." (169)

The one thing that gets me up in the morning, other than making my wife her morning coffee, is this relentless pursuit of helping people grasp what Saccone says in his book about mission.   The lack of mission is truly at the core of far too many of our churches, not only in the CRCA, but worldwide.  When I speak with pastors as I make my way around the country, I affirm what solid research has shown:   very few pastors and even everyday Christians carve out time and energy to develop relationships with people outside our faith.   I agree with Saccone that mission is not just about evangelism -- sharing the message of the gospel;  it is also about social justice - being the gospel, which flows from a life being transformed by the gospel.   Word and deed.   Mission is why the church exists.

I am writing the words sitting at the Perth airport waiting for my next flight.   I will be meeting with pastors and church leaders this week.  And as I do, my primary question will not be, "Do you have a mission statement?"  Or, "have you thought about evangelism?"   I am keenly interested to find out are they actually doing something about it.   This reminds me of a conversation I had with a church member as I waited to board my flight to Perth yesterday.   We talked well over an hour about precisely this:  how do we move a church from simply having a mission statement to actually living it out -- turn ideas into realities, concepts into concrete actions?    That's it, isn't it?

How do we do this?   How do we get missional momentum in our churches?    It comes from hearts that are profounding gripped by the goodness of God.  Leaders, pastors, elders and deacons who have been impacted by God's amazing grace, his relentless love for humanity, and his abiding presence in their lives.   If you truly have been impacted by the goodness of God, you will impact others -- for you are moved by compassion for people heading to an eternity without God, and you need to talk about it with them.   Not only that, but when you have been impacted by the goodness of God, it radically changes your life, and people cannot help but see it ... and want to be part of what you have!

So my advice to people who are not taking action when it comes to mission is simply this:  get on your knees before God, and meditate on what God tells us about himself.   Remain there until you have been gripped by what God has done for you in Christ, both now and for eternity.   Gripped by God's grace will move you into action.    To share Christ!  To be like Christ!  To live Christ!  And that will make all the difference -- in your life and in those impact by gospel shared by you and lived by you.   Don't just think about mission, or talk about it, do it!

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22 (NIV)