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Saturday, September 11, 2010

Missional Christianity

The buzzword today in Christendom is not "proselytizing" or "preaching" or "proclaim the gospel". It's "missional". It references a lifestyle approach to sharing the gospel, mostly, and it primarily differs from those more traditional versions by trying to avoid upsetting the listener for the most part. Those who advocate the concept of "missional" will tell you that, essentially, it's the same thing. That is, genuine Christian evangelism has always been a lifestyle for Christians (you know, like "let your light so shine before men ...") that shares the gospel in how you live and in what you say. So the two are supposed to be the same thing, basically. "Missional" is just a word used to remind us that we're supposed to live that way.

I don't know. Is that accurate? Is missional the same as "sharing the gospel"? I mean, for instance, we're supposed to tell homosexuals about the good news, right? So ... what is the difference between "missional outreach to the gay community" and "preaching the gospel to sodomites"? I don't think the language conveys the same thing. Do you? Shouldn't it? (It is my suspicion that if you see, as I do, these two as different, it conveys some serious concerns with the concept of "missional" beginning with its concept of "the Gospel".)

1 comment:

Danny Wright said...

One thing's for sure, if you're going to preach, you ought to live a "missional" lifestyle eh? In other words, don't advocate destructive choices like the homosexual life styles, co-habitation, promiscuousness, and abortion, and then turn around and say that Jesus loves you. The heathen see though it for sure, even if the "Christian" does not.