Missional as Sexy!

For those who may stumble on this post with some concern, noting that my return to blogging after a year is marked by a consecutive entry involving "SEX", have no fear!  In this post sexy is used in the broader sense to simply mean appealing ;-).

I have witnessed the following phenomenon with such consistency and regularity that I simply had to punch a few keys and record my observation.  In our day and age it seems that churches love to talk missional talk, and that most Christians love to speak of how their church is missional.  This is also a top characteristic that thoughtful people seem to want when looking for a new church.

The reason for all the hype, buzz, appeal, attraction, is simple!  This is what the church is suppose to be and it should compel us when what we say we believe takes root in the real world and actually makes a difference for others in our community.  People rightly want to be part of something beyond their own Sunday/Wednesday Bible social club!  Regardless of the zeal we have in our singing and learning together, people are increasing seeing through that as the be all and end all of faith and feel very good about being part of God's mission in the world!

The rub is found in the struggle of not simply talking missionally, or being part of an organization that is missional, but when we ourselves start to live in a missional manner.  It doesn't take long to realize it is hard work.  So hard in fact that living in this place with any consistency quickly removes the sexy sheen and replaces it with a overwhelming need that requires the presence of God.

At ecclesia people sometimes ask us if we are "having fun".  Doing what is good and true and right and pure to the calling of God for us is almost always more difficult than fun!  It is seldom easy to do the right thing or the best thing, and while the difficulty often scares people off, it usually indicates that what is being attempted is more important not less.

When you see people jump in with passion and then run away with even greater passion, you learn that being missional is not sexy!  When you don't get paid again, which we are living through now, NOT SEXY!  Pretty much the only time missional is sexy is when we are playing with it in our minds apart from any practice or when I am talking at another church that is stirred and moved by the results of being missional while clueless about the cost of it every single day.

At this end of the spectrum my conclusion is simple...  Sexy is overrated in every possible application!  Being missional is not and more of us need to lean into it and into God than ever before!