Reflection: On Modeling Missions

As Christians, we recognize our call to work alongside God and one another to do Kingdom work.  As Baptists, we take much pride in the strength and power of our missions organizations and church missions projects.  But, as parents, do you model a missions lifestyle at home for your children?  I am talking outside of your church activities, youth mission trips, and annual missions giving.  In your comings and goings, are you missional? 

Let's define missional.  Missional describes a person or a group of people who have decided to form their lifestyle in a way that intentionally joins with God in his mission in the world.  So, sometimes, yes, this involves doing mission work.  But not always.  Being missional transforms every aspect of life - it determines how we interact with our co-workers and classmates, how we conduct ourselves on social media, how we make a life with our neighbors, and how we raise our children.  

Now, we will not tell you to be missional and then leave you to figure it out on your own.  Just was we expect you to model a missional lifestyle for your family, we hope to model it for you.  We hope to provide opportunities for you and your children to experience working alongside God in his mission in the world.  And, we hope that we are able to equip you and your children to have discussions on matters of faith and mission with lasting effects.  

This summer, through our middle school missions program, we are offering our first family missions project in conjunction with Love Wins Ministries.    

Love Wins Ministries describes themselves in this way:

Our mission is to demonstrate and promote God’s love for the marginalized through personal relationships, education and support. Love Wins Ministries shares unconditional love and friendship with the homeless and poor population of Raleigh, North Carolina. We focus on relationships, not outcomes – just like you do with your friendships. 

If the people we work with desire change in their life, we will help with that however we can. And if they desire no change at all, we will honor that as well. No matter what, they will be loved, respected and treated as an equal. Because they are. 

We want to build relationships that cross cultural and societal barriers. It is not that complicated: We love people – period. No agenda, no strings attached. People that society has left behind. People who wear dirty clothes. People who beg for money on the side of the road. People who are not welcome in most church buildings. People the city wishes would disappear. People made, we believe,  in the very image of God.

Every Sunday, the Love Wins community gathers together at 3:00p.m. for worship in their office space in the annex of Hillyer Memorial Christian Church downtown.  This community is comprised of ministers, interns, addicts, the lost, the forgotten, and the lonely.  This is a church of people who recognize their deep need for the love of God, and we are so blessed to be able to serve them.  

What I am asking each family to do is this:  Show up on Sunday afternoon on July 21 here at church at 3:00p.m. with one potluck-style dish to bring along.  We are not going to participate in the worship service, but we are going to be humbly preparing a Sabbath feast for our friends who live outside.  This will be Love Wins first ever dinner on the grounds!  

As the church memebers line up to go through the buffet, so too, will we.  We will spread out and eat with people whom we have never met.  We will share table fellowship - telling stories, laughing, and listening - all the while living the gospel of Christ.  

In this experience, it is my hope that we will be able to follow the example of Christ by loving people where they are.  I pray that you and your family will be transformed by being invited to extend mercy by truly listening and sharing yourselves with others.  

Our purpose here is to express with our lives the mission of God - not to make lists of people to help and things to do.  But, to invite others to experience the good news of Jesus Christ just by knowing us and for us to experience the same by knowing them.

Brochures are in the mail with more info!