Things My Church Didn't Teach Me #02 Missio Dei

   Growing up in the 1970s and still participating in a local church congregation meant a mix of Youth Group, Small Group and Sunday Worship. The approach to discipleship was a mix of relational ministry and Christian Education. They were great times and my overall memory was of being valued, feeling I belonged and yet being full of questions and wonder... that and feeling I didn't quite fit easily in some other groups and places outside the church because of the different outlook and values systems...
   My reflection on the culture is that people saw it as important to build a community around their understanding of who God was calling them to be and inviting others to join in that community. The invitation was becoming increasingly hard to make well and less welcome...
   It was just at a time when people felt a heightened sense of the hypocrisy in many churches... preaching holiness and practicing judgement or just not living up to a projected high standard... calling all but looking very middle class. A divide between those 'in' and those on the edge... usually because of divorce, divergent views etc. I oversimplify I'm sure...
   By far the biggest thing happening was that the invitation was there to join this movement and to be 'forgiven' and to encourage friends to come along. Mission was very much seen as sending believers and teachers, nurses and helpers, to share the good news with those in PNG and the Pacific. Evangelism was about sharing a message about which many people became increasingly sceptical, resistant or dismissive.
   The context in society has changed radically since that time and the number of people now outside the sphere of church has made real the writing of David Bosch and others in describing the invitation into .missio dei' or God's mission in the world as being the invitation to evangelism, service and living in the world right where each of us lives in our own neighbourhoods... an invitation to rethink and reimagine church, faith, the gospel and the shape of our 'ownership' of discipleship out of our culture and context.
   I learnt growing up about how to change me to fit in but I didn't learn about how to live as me and make sense of discipleship in those relationships and places outside the church seeing them as OK, valid, good to be part of and the stuff of life.
I was/am an exile...
   Today my call is to be me wherever I am and for that me to not divide secular and sacred. It's about meeting God where God is and engaging in action God is taking. I need to be fallible, honest, authentic and open, a servant and someone who asks questions, shares stories and wonders... just to begin with anyhow.