"Mission begins with a kind of explosion of joy. The news that the rejected and crucified Jesus is alive is something that cannot possibly be suppressed. It must be told. Who could be silent about such a fact?" says Lesslie Newbigin in his book, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society.
As we near the end of our Missional Church class, these words are ones that seem to sum up what I’ve learned; or, rather, what’s been rekindled in me. Missionality is something I have always longed for, without knowing the words for it. As I think and hope most Christians do, I find the story of Jesus intoxicating. That being said, I have always felt this frustration, not knowing where to begin communicating that.
And the answer, clearly, is right here. Where I am. Where we are. I think the communal aspect of it, which has been emphasized a lot this term, is huge. It’s easy to have an independence complex, at least for me, but that was never the way we were to be. God himself lives in community, and from that community came the ultimate missionary: Jesus himself. But we have to take our initiative from him. We have to be motivated by the joy Newbigin talks about. He’s right. When you fully understand the story and believe in its truth, you cannot leave unchanged. It influences everything, and for the Christian community, it changes the way we do community, giving us a purpose, a goal to accomplish that has nothing to do with administration or budget or Americanized success. Our purpose is to love each other and love others. That is the greatest kind of freedom.
Danielle
