Living Bridges - God Thing
So let's move on here. Living bridges are those living, breathing connections we make, right? Okay, it's a metaphor, but I think it works.
Mission is the big thing in the church right now. Rick Warren's post Purpose Driven Life have been outreach oriented, there's a Missional Church Network and Ed Stetzer is plugged in. It's a huge focus of Ginghamsburg Church, Willow Creek, you name it. Now, don't hear this as critical. It's a good thing. It's a God thing. Really it is.
But, alone, it fails. Like Failblog fails...
"No, no, no," you may say (you may not, but it's my blog...), "Good John Wesley was ALL about the outreach stuff. Talk about Mr. Missional. Mr. 'The World Is My Parrish.' What about Jesus? What about 'Go and make disciples?' Huh? What do you have to say to that?"
Well... They didn't fail.
Because they didn't do Missional alone.
Here's the thing. Great article here called "Why the Missional Church Will Fail"* makes the point that mission without discipleship cannot succeed - it's heartless, soulless (my words, not his). It must fail because there's no real purpose behind it.
Living Bridges, however, are built when true disciples, acting out of the relationship they have with the Savior, reach out in compassion and love into the world around them. When we act more like our Savior because we are becoming more like our Savior.
So it's a two-fold Living Bridge - First is God's Word that connects us with our Creator. You know, it's the LIVING WORD that bridges the gap between this mortal being and the God who created me. It's the Living Spirit of God that dwells in me.
Second, it is the Living Bridge that I build between me and the people around me. Love God with all I am and love my neighbor as I love me (to paraphrase Jesus).
Living Bridges. A God Thing.
*Yeah, subtle...the followup here is equally subtle "Why Most Church Discipleship Plans Fail"
Mission is the big thing in the church right now. Rick Warren's post Purpose Driven Life have been outreach oriented, there's a Missional Church Network and Ed Stetzer is plugged in. It's a huge focus of Ginghamsburg Church, Willow Creek, you name it. Now, don't hear this as critical. It's a good thing. It's a God thing. Really it is.
But, alone, it fails. Like Failblog fails...
"No, no, no," you may say (you may not, but it's my blog...), "Good John Wesley was ALL about the outreach stuff. Talk about Mr. Missional. Mr. 'The World Is My Parrish.' What about Jesus? What about 'Go and make disciples?' Huh? What do you have to say to that?"
Well... They didn't fail.
Because they didn't do Missional alone.
Here's the thing. Great article here called "Why the Missional Church Will Fail"* makes the point that mission without discipleship cannot succeed - it's heartless, soulless (my words, not his). It must fail because there's no real purpose behind it.
Living Bridges, however, are built when true disciples, acting out of the relationship they have with the Savior, reach out in compassion and love into the world around them. When we act more like our Savior because we are becoming more like our Savior.
So it's a two-fold Living Bridge - First is God's Word that connects us with our Creator. You know, it's the LIVING WORD that bridges the gap between this mortal being and the God who created me. It's the Living Spirit of God that dwells in me.
Second, it is the Living Bridge that I build between me and the people around me. Love God with all I am and love my neighbor as I love me (to paraphrase Jesus).
Living Bridges. A God Thing.
*Yeah, subtle...the followup here is equally subtle "Why Most Church Discipleship Plans Fail"
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