More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
January 9 - February 17, 2018
But it is a really handy tool for mobilizing Christians up, in, and out into mission. That is, up into deeper connection with the Triune God; in to a stronger sense of community with other believers; and out into the neighborhood.
Surely there is a way we can see the church as “an army of ordinary people,”[1] sent out to announce and demonstrate the reign of God through Christ, without expecting ourselves to be something we’re not or something less than we should be.
Evangelistic mission works effectively when we are living generous, hospitable, Spirit-led, Christlike lives as missionaries to our own neighborhoods—and when the gifted evangelists in our midst join us in sharing Christ with our neighbors. That’s not just good evangelism strategy. That’s the biblical model.
First, he affirms the gifting of the evangelist—interestingly, not the gift of evangelism but the evangelist herself is the gift (see Ephesians 4:11). Second, he writes as though all believers are to be evangelistic in their general orientation.
While evangelism is an essential gifting for all churches,
live questionable lives.
The fact is, gifted evangelists telling the rest of us that we should behave like gifted evangelists has a debilitating effect.
the poor were neglected and overlooked
Why do we not observe that it is their benevolence to strangers, their care for the graves of the dead and the pretended holiness of their lives that have done most to increase atheism?
He failed to realize that the Christians were filled with the Holy Spirit of love and motivated by his grace.
Nothing would be more questionable in the first century than a slave who loved his master, or a self-controlled young man, or an old woman who didn’t engage in slander. In other words, this was Paul’s recipe for a questionable life in his time. Our challenge is to find what similarly questionable lives look like in the twenty-first century.
There’s an old communication theory that goes like this: When predictability is high, impact is low.
To fulfill the evangelistic mandate that Paul and Peter and the gospel present us with, we need to be propelled outward, into the lives of our neighbors, but also upward, into deeper intimacy with Jesus.
We need to become a godly, intriguing, socially adventurous, joyous presence in the lives of others.
Jesus and the New Testament writers saw a powerful integration of faith and action, so much so that they found it impossible to separate them.
“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”
French philosopher Pierre Bourdieu referred to this as habitus.
We need to be fostering a set of habits among Christians that will in turn shape their values and beliefs.
By missional, I mean all that we do and say that alerts others to the reign of God.
linked. Mission is both the announcement and the demonstration of the reign of God through Christ.
Missional habits aren’t just strategic, they’re consequential: Because of the universal reign of God through Christ, we bless, we open our tables, we listen for the Spirit, we learn Christ, and we are sent out on this evangelistic task.
In most respects it means to confer prosperity or happiness upon another.
In this respect, to bless others is to build them up, to fill them with encouragement for them to increase in strength and prosperity.
Hebrew brk, which meant “to bend the knee, worship, praise, invoke blessings”—an entirely appropriate reference to our relationship to God.)
Mark Twain once said, “I can live for two months on a good compliment.”
Just watch how unleashing a culture of blessing—words of affirmation, acts of kindness, gift giving—binds people to each other. It has the effect of strengthening the Christian community while launching its members more deeply into the lives of outsiders.
The “blessers” were 50 times more successful at helping people find their way
We are called to bless in order to bless, because we were made to bless the nations.
The Galileans, as he called them, were doing these things with no sense of personal gain in mind.
We must become attentive to the needs, fears, hopes, and yearnings of our neighbors in order to bless them appropriately.
we can come across as “colonizers” in our neighborhoods if we’re seen as the ones who only bless others if there’s something in it for us.
He reported that the Christians would meet “on a fixed day” in the early morning to “sing responsively to Christ, as to a god.”
‘The Son of Man came . . .’?”
The table ought to be the primary symbol of the Christian gathering. It represents hospitality, inclusivity, generosity, and grace.
Sharing meals together on a regular basis is one of the most sacred practices we can engage in as believers. Missional hospitality is a tremendous opportunity to extend the kingdom of God. We can literally eat our way into the kingdom of God! If every Christian household regularly invited a stranger or a poor person into their home for a meal once a week, we would literally change the world by eating![13]
Romans always maintained a ranking system at their feasts.
others appearing to eat in cliques rather than as a whole body of believers.
but rather to consider whom they’ve excluded from fellowship.
The act of Jesus was to reverse this structure: communion first, conversion second.
Fear and laziness are mission killers.
If you find yourself being unable to be alone, it means you need community. And needing community can lead to you using community to meet your need.
If we regard hospitality as a missional imperative, then our participation in the missio Dei requires that we engage in disciplined practices, such as solitude, silence and prayer that will sustain our commitment to hospitality and lend substance and authenticity to our evangelistic and missional programs.[18]
It’s far trickier to work out the balance or the tension between withdrawal and engagement.
The Spirit’s promptings rebuke us when we drift too far to either end of the spectrum, choreographing our social lives in a way that promotes connection with unbelievers while also rousing their curiosity about our faith.
the whole universe was made for Christ and that everything is to be gathered together in Him.[22]
For example, we can’t die for others like Jesus did, but we can offer ourselves sacrificially in service of others.
“What did Jesus say?” . . . is the wrong question for Christian thought just as “What would Jesus do?” is the wrong question for Christian ethics. “What would Jesus want me or us to think, be, and do, here and now?” is the right question.[23]
Just as God took on flesh and dwelt among us in Jesus, so his followers are called to dwell among those to whom they’re sent.
I asked them why they didn’t speak about Jesus in the same way that they had just been telling me about Kelly Slater. Again, crickets.
I don’t think every Christian is an evangelist, but I do think every Christian should be evangelistic.
