Thus far no one has refuted the statement that a missional person must be converted. Yet, I am sure there are people that traffic in the language of the “missional landscape” that are not converted. Also, a church that would claim to be missional must seek to establish and maintain a community of converted members. There is a great problem with church bodies that have great numbers of Christ “knowledgeable” members that are not Christ “knowing” whatsoever. This is a great weakness in the contemporary church scene. Missional as a process begins with a converted life.
2 Another element in the missional process is one that many established Baptist people and churches refuse to deal with. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer is often neglected as a teaching in the average Baptist church.
I believe a truly missional person is a person that seeks to live with a daily infilling of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that grants to us our spiritual gifts which in turn we exercise to glorify God in our community and society as a whole. Many missional people do not like to use what they call “tribal” words, but I will use whatever word I think best describes my thoughts. Also, I will use biblical words without concern as to the opinions of others. One word I think missional people should use is the word holy.
The Spirit makes us holy. He sets us apart from sin and toward the glorifying of the Father. I am not talking about the establishment of rules and regulations. I am talking about biblical holiness. The holiness that makes us think with the mind of Christ. True holiness is a Christocentric life-style that goes beyond keeping a “score card” of ups and downs on some humanly determined scale of spirituality.
A Christocentric life is one wherein one surrenders his or her life to having the mind of Christ and seeks to obey the indwelling presence of the Spirit as revealed in the Word of God. This is not something mystical. God’s direction for a holy life is revealed in the Word and the Spirit will empower a surrendered person to live holy before God and community.
Therefore a missional person will be a converted person living a Spirit filled life. The missional person lives a Christocentric life that is recognizable to believers and unbelievers alike. The missional person should never have to change “hats” to be identified. The infilling of the Spirit should be so definite in his or her life that the “chameleon persona” of the merely Christianized person is never necessary to establish identity in the daily life of the missional person.
Your thoughts?
cb
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Adam sofyst
on Jun 27th, 2006
@ 6:48 am:
You said this,
‘Also, a church that would claim to be missional must seek to establish and maintain a community of converted members.’
Could I suggest that this may be a little off focus as well. We are told to go into the world and ‘make disciples’. We are not simply told to go and make converts.
I may be on one of my rants and assume you are saying what you are not. If so, tell me to shove it.
I think it would be better worded if you said that a missional church must seek to establish and maintain a community of disciples.
America is chalk-full of ‘converts’. Every one from the child-molestor to the pornstar is a ‘convert’. But a true disciple of God is as rare as Scripture supporting dispensationalism (hehe)…
Kevin Bussey
on Jun 27th, 2006
@ 7:52 am:
CB,
I agree that we can’t live a a missional life apart from the HS. Adam is right too! We have way too many people that just bought “fire insurance.” we have to do a better job making disciples. I am beginning that we a few men in our church. They had no clue what I was talking about. It is refreshing and convicting at the same time.
CB Scott
on Jun 27th, 2006
@ 9:05 am:
Gentlemen,
By convert I mean people that have been truly converted. I also said to be missional is a process. Discipleship is part of that process. I will speak to that later.
Adam, you are reading this through the eyes of “churchy” definitions. Go back and read it again. I covered the concept of a true convert vs. a Christianized person rather full here. Let me make it more so.
A Christianized person is not a converted person. They are in an environment of “Christian” thoughts and ideas but do not know Christ. Also, only a true convert can live a Spirit filled life. The first step in discipleship, after conversion, is to walk in the Spirit. If a person is not walking in the Spirit he is merely playing the “religion game.”
Baptist churches are full of these kind of people. That is why we are weak.
Read again what I have said and you will see I have not yet commented on the Great Commission. Only converted people can carry out the Great Commission of making disciples.
I understand what a disciple is. I also understand what a true convert is. Adam, your definition of convert is not what I am talking about. Again, a convert is person that has truly experienced a salvation experence by the grace of God.
cb
America is not “chalk-full of converts.” It is full of Christianized lost people and that is the great problem within the membership of churches.
We want lost people to come to church but we do not want them to have “membership” in our churches thinking that makes them converts to the discipleship of Christ.
CB Scott
on Jun 27th, 2006
@ 9:08 am:
Kevin,
I am going out on a limb here and saying that I do not believe in the “fire insurance gospel” whatso ever.
Dave Samples
on Jun 27th, 2006
@ 9:19 am:
Right On! The Holy Spirit is absolutely essential for kingdom effectiveness. Compare the “infant” church of Acts 2 with the “mature” church of 2006 and you will see quite a difference. Surely God intends His church to be at least as effective as it was in the beginning. The promise of Pentecost was empowerment for evangelism. What is missing in the church today? We are missing the pentecostal power of the Holy spirit!
Tim
on Jun 27th, 2006
@ 9:27 am:
Overall, I agree with you CB. I disagree on a minor point in your post concerning language.
You said, “Many missional people do not like to use what they call “tribal” words, but I will use whatever word I think best describes my thoughts. Also, I will use biblical words without concern as to the opinions of others.”
I would hope that you are very concerned with language. I would hope that you want to communicate about God and his saving grace as effectively as possible. I would hope that you would condescend your language to that of the normal person. If not, I fear that you may be miscommunicating. IMO
Tim
Alan Cross
on Jun 27th, 2006
@ 9:34 am:
Re: the language thing, the main point is to talk “to” people instead of talking “at” people. People know the difference when I am actually engaging with their life as opposed to dumping a bunch of religious stuff. If I am engaging with them, they normally have a desire to understand. It is a heart issue on our part.
And, here’s where the Holy Spirit comes in. You nailed it, CB. I rarely, if ever, hear anything from the missional/emerging discussion about the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t matter how relevant or even missional we are, if we are not infused with power by the Holy Spirit. He is the one who draws and convicts. We desperately need to pray for His empowerment. Unfortunately, we tend to believe that we can do all of this with just a change of perspective. It’s the same lie that previous generations have bought into that have led us to this point. Good words.
Kevin Bussey
on Jun 27th, 2006
@ 9:39 am:
CB,
I never thought that about you. I agree with what you have posted!
CB Scott
on Jun 27th, 2006
@ 9:56 am:
Tim,
Thanks for pointing out my failure to communicate properly in that statement. You are right as rain. What I should have said is that I will use biblical terms and not worry about my peers thinking I am being “tribal.”
Alan said it better than I did. His statement is what I was trying to communicate. We do not need to fear using the terms of the faith in a proper fashion. Never should we talk down to people.
cb
Stuart
on Jun 27th, 2006
@ 10:27 am:
CB-
I think what you’re describing are parts of a whole, rather than a process.
A person must be converted. A person must be a disciple filled with the Spirit. A church is a group of Spirit-filled disciples living in community and in their community.
But “process” implies steps…i.e Do these 10 things, in the right order, and you will be “missional”. I don’t think what you’re describing are “steps” to “becoming” missional, but necessary pieces of a greater whole.
Sonya D
on Jun 27th, 2006
@ 10:53 am:
CB,
Great post!
CB Scott
on Jun 27th, 2006
@ 12:38 pm:
Stuart,
I am describing a process. I am describing a process of discipleship very akin to the process of sanctification we are to go through as we await the return of our King. See James 5:7-17 to get a better idea of what I am trying to say.
Stuart, you are right in the way you define a church. A church SHOULD be a group of Spirit-filled disciples living in community and in their community (society and world).
The sad truth is that there are not many churches (in this country) doing that. Many so called churches are just groupings of Christianized people coming together from their “real lives” to do religious “stuff” that makes them feel good and gives them “warm fuzzies” for awhile.
Stuart, I am in no way talking about “steps” that will make one missional. There are two pre-requisites to the process of being missional. those are to be truly converted and to be Spirit-filled. Beyond that it is a continual process of having the Mind of Christ and living thusly in the entirety of one’s being.
We are to be in a process of becoming more and more Christ-like with every breath we take. He is to be OUR LIFE not our Sunday morning. That is what I mean by process.
The process of being missional becomes the whole only when God ceases to give me my breath and takes me to Himself.
To be missional is to live and breath for the glory of the Father, by serving the Son, in the power of the Spirit.
Life is a process not to be wasted on self, but to be sacrificed in carrying of the cross of Christ within the afore mentioned process of life.
cb
Stuart
on Jun 27th, 2006
@ 3:39 pm:
CB–
I see what you’re saying. But it sounds to me like you’re describing the process of discipleship. I agree that one must be continually growing as a disciple in order to be “missional”, but I don’t really see them as the same thing.
But I’m not trying to be disagreeable for disagreeable’s sake…I’m enjoying reading your thoughts and they’re making me think, too. (Which I suppose is the mark of a good post.)
CB Scott
on Jun 27th, 2006
@ 4:12 pm:
Stuart,
I will be addressing what you are talking about in my next post. You are just out thinking my posting:-)
You are right. I am talking about being a disciple at the moment. I want to base everything I think and say about being missional upon the fact that one must first be a disciple in the truest meaning of the word before one can be missional.
cb
nathaniel adam king
on Jun 27th, 2006
@ 7:22 pm:
CB,
I made the disclaimer that I was probably just ranting and arguing against what you were saying when you were probably not saying what I was ranting against you saying. :)
I am sure we would both agree that the absence of discipleship within the church is one of its major problems. Everyone has been given the ‘fire assurance’ (as Kevin said) and yet nobody is leaving their nets to follow Jesus. Everyone walks the aisle, but no ones walks the path to Calvary…
I eagerly await what more you have to say on this topic…
CB Scott
on Jun 27th, 2006
@ 8:58 pm:
Nathaniel,
I think we are together. I was going to post missional 3 tonight, but I just got a call from a couple that we have been trying to cultivate. They want to come over to our home and talk.
I tell you this as a request of you to ask Jesus to give us wisdom and Christian hospitality as we finally get this couple in our home.
I am not playing games with you. I want you to stop what you are doing for a moment and ask Jesus to help us have His mind as we minister to these people. I ask all you guys to do so. Thank you.
cb
Jeff Richard Young
on Jun 28th, 2006
@ 12:52 am:
Dear Brother C.B.,
My dear wife and I were just tonight agreeing that we have come to reject the fire insurance gospel that we grew up hearing from men such as Bailey Smith and others. She said, “We are called to something much higher than just saving our own skins.”
Love in Christ,
Jeff
nathaniel adam king
on Jun 28th, 2006
@ 7:39 am:
CB,
I apologize. I did not see your comment until this morning. But I did ask the LORD anyway. Don’t know how much good my petition would do after the fact though.
awaiting the hope,
adam
CB Scott
on Jun 29th, 2006
@ 1:10 am:
Nathaniel,
Thank you for praying. God is doing a work here in this situation. I am waiting on Him as He leads.
cb