Kingdom Come!

Tim Keller discusses what it means to be Missional…

 

Yep, we’re actually really physically moving.  Moving from lovely Lillian, Alabama across Perdido Bay to West Pensacola, Florida.  Like 5 minutes from the office and in a great house and neighborhood.  Some wonderful people are helping make this possible and we are very, very THANKFUL!

Now, here’s the big thing… I want to have an open-door policy!  A place where neighbors and students and missionaries (!) can gather and enjoy!

We’ll be completely “in the house” after our trip to Michigan (17-27 FEB) and before my trip to Scotland (14-20 MAR).  Exciting!  We have a family joke (based on a multiple-time true experience) that every time we moved in Kenya, dad went to Uganda.  I told Phyllis, I had that yearning for Uganda feeling… I’m recovering nicely from the frying pan!

And oh yeah,  we’re moving closer to the No-Brand Retreat.  We’ve set it for 3-6 April.  If you’d like to attend, let me know…

A new article in Christianity Today’s Leadership Journal says what we know, but now we’ll believe it because it’s been researched!  And we dig research!  And by CT!  (And I suppose it’s about North American Christians…)

Most Christians (60%) worship in congregations of less than 300… and struggle for resources
Faith is relevant, but Church is not…
The local church is no longer considered the only outlet for spiritual growth…
Churches must develop relational and community-oriented outreach…
Lay people have to be better equipped to be God’s ambassadors…
A growing element of the Christian population is disappointed with or frustrated by the local church…

And the 5 groups:

Active Christians 19%
Believe salvation comes through Jesus Christ
Committed churchgoers
Bible readers
Accept leadership positions
Invest in personal faith development through the church
Feel obligated to share faith; 79% do so.

Professing Christians 20%
Believe salvation comes through Jesus Christ
Focus on personal relationship with God and Jesus
Similar beliefs to Active Christians, different actions
Less involved in church, both attending and serving
Less commitment to Bible reading or sharing faith

Liturgical Christians 16%
Predominantly Catholic and Lutheran
Regular churchgoers
High level of spiritual activity, mostly expressed by serving in church and/or community
Recognize authority of the church

Private Christians 24%
Largest and youngest segment
Believe in God and doing good things
Own a Bible, but don’t read it
Spiritual interest, but not within church context
Only about a third attend church at all
Almost none are church leaders

Cultural Christians 21%
Little outward religious behavior or attitudes
God aware, but little personal involvement with God
Do not view Jesus as essential to salvation
Affirm many ways to God
Favor universality theology 

Time to “move back into the neighborhood,” become real ambassadors for Jesus and identify with people… their pain, their hopes, their dreams!  Of course this is time intensive and requires us to actually get to know people…

And of course, many folks who read this article/survey will just get mad, talk about how we in America are going to hell in a handbasket, and long for the ‘good ole days’ when we were the majority culture and we didn’t have to take this ‘back-sliding’ seriously!  We didn’t have to think about being missionaries or being missional.  We could just relax…  Oh, for the ‘good ole days!’

Well, Zach leaves today.  Back to his busy life in the resturant business and the revitalization of downtown Valdosta, Georgia.

We’ve had a great visit!  We didn’t even leav the house yesterday except for a neighborhood walk as a family: Phyllis, Zach, Bailey (the wonder dog, who had also come for a visit!) and me.  We sat on the back porch and chatted and read and enjoyed the cool weather.  Wonderful!

Then we watched God Grew Tired of Us a great movie about the Lost Boys of Sudan.  It’s a sad, funny cross-cultural flick.  Since Zach grew up in Kenya (12-18) we watched with mixed feelings.

Some of the Folks at New Life Fellowship are doing the stuff to move back into Saginaw…  they’re my heroes!