Biblical basis for partnership in missions...on being missional

I am taking a break for the next week from writing the daily devotional. In its place, I will be making good on a commitment I made to write a manuscript for a presentation on missions that I presented this Spring.

Hopefully it will serve a two-fold purpose: 1) I will keep my word to some friends and co-workers. 2) It will begin to generate a mission mindset at The Journey Church and with others who might read the musings herein.

I truly think it will be as challenging for you as any devotional I would write (or not). Prepare to be challenged to look outside your world to a world that is dying without Christ.

My guess is that the manuscript will be read (when completed and if distributed) by church leaders and churches of a more traditional mindset. My prayer is that they will begin to replace the word "missions" with "missional".
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The purpose of this article is to revisit the Scriptural call of God for partnership in mission. God's call is for local churches to partner with each other and with individuals to increase their effectiveness in sharing the Good News at the local, regional, national, and international level.

This goal of this article is for church leadership engage in Biblical partnership and influence the people they lead to: 1) challenge people to be missional like Jesus 2) understand the common calling the local Church has to mission partnership 3) find unity in the common goal of the Church in mission partnership 4) embrace the common doctrine in mission partnership 4) adopt an attitude of equality in mission partnership 5) openly communicate within the mission partnership.

1. On being missional...like Jesus

To truly understand partnering with other Christians in the work of mission, one must begin with the ultimate example of mission partnership that is embodied in the Incarnation. The Incarnation, God on mission as human, should be a revelation to us that God fully intended the work of redemption to be a partnership (John 1:1-14). Jesus was and is the embodiment of God on mission. Jesus showed us that to truly be a God-follower, we must follow His example of missional.

God chose to set the example of partnership by working with and within humanity to accomplish His redemptive plan. Jesus called on us to carry out the Great Commission through his incarnational or 'missional' example.

In recent history, there are individuals and a scarce few churches that have exemplified the missional example of Jesus . In my opinion, there is no Christian denomination in existence today that embodies the missional church.

That's why it's important that we understand the first biblical example of partnership in mission is God in partnership with humanity in his redemptive plan. The primary example we must embrace in being missional human beings is that of Jesus Christ. Why God would partner with humanity in his work of love and grace will remain a mystery...at least until the Second Coming. Until then, it's not for us to figure out but simply to obey. We must follow the perfect example of being a missional God-follower given to us by the Master in the New Testament. We will fall short of that example, to be sure, but the grace extended to us in our shortcomings is simply one more facet of helping pre-Christians understand the loving nature of the Heavenly Father. I believe that can be summed up in the word "authenticity".

There are a lot of things we can learn from Jesus' example of being missional. We should be willing to understand the cultural aspect of those God puts in our path. We should have an ability to understand the spiritual sickness that underlies the presenting problems of social aberrations. We should have a willingness to approach and socialize with those that are far from embracing the principles of God's revelations of Scripture. We should be willing to share the Gospel and all of God's principles in a way that is relevant to whatever culture God may send us. Jesus modeled a missional relationship with God in each of these ways. Jesus called us to do the same when he said, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."

Understanding the primary model of partnership in missions that Jesus gave us in his incarnational/missional lifestyle is the foundation that all mission work should be built. Embracing that primary example of partnership given to us by God is a secure beginning point explore what the Bible says about local churches partnering with other individuals and churches.

Tomorrow: The meaing of partnership and biblical examples of individual and church partnerships.