A Missional Church may be a new term, but it’s not a new idea. Neither is it a church that focuses on short term youth trips to Fiji, Mexico or Romania.

A Paradigm Shift

Imagine you’re looking through a window at a beautiful mountain view. For a moment you may forget you’re standing in a warm room, only to feel you are scaling a mountain or flying above the horizon line. If you were to take a few steps back you would still see the mountain view but you would also see the room you’re standing in, the window frame and the walls. This is a paradigm shit.

It is to see the same information as before, but with additional information providing context.

We may attend church and practice a relationship with Jesus, but without biblical context we may believe a relationship with Jesus is the peak purpose of life, rather than the beginning of life’s purpose. We are unaware of the significance of our existence and that we are in a world preparing for Christs return.

Without understanding the context of God purposes on earth Christianity becomes about believing in God rather than following him. Thereafter we adopt views to fit our misconceptions and ‘prop up’ our worldview. Soon we are “asleep in the light” (a term borrowed from a Keith Green song).

A consequence of such a misguided worldview is that we expect God to revolve around our plans rather than asking him what his plans are. We make decisions and fit God into our life, believing he owes us his blessings. Of course God loves us and wants to bless us, but to the extend we want to love and bless his is the extent of our faith.

This podcast explores the questions from a theological viewpoint: what is a missional church? While it’s not an exclusive study it explores the differences between ‘institutional church’ and ‘missional church’. Neither are wrong per se, but what they produce can vary greatly.

God the Father

God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. The universe belongs to Him and is therefore good, being the work of a loving God who creates, upholds, and directs it. We are to tend to the world and enjoy it in accordance with God’s purposes.

Genesis 1:1 / Deuteronomy 6:4 / John 3:16 / 1 Corinthians 8:6

God the Son (Jesus)

Jesus is the only perfect image of the Father, and by Him the nature of God revealed – which is love. By God’s good will, His divine Son received our human form from the Virgin Mary, His mother. Jesus became human, lived a sinless life and yet paid the price of sin by death on a cross. This was so that in Him we might be adopted as children of God, and be made heirs of God’s kingdom.

By His obedience, even to suffering and death, Jesus made the offering which we could not make; in Him we are freed from the power of sin and reconciled to God. By His resurrection, Jesus overcame death and opened for us the way of eternal life. Jesus took our human form into heaven where he now reigns with the Father and intercedes for us. We share in His victory when we are baptized into the New Covenant and become living members of Christ.

John 1 / Hebrews 12:1-3 / Colossians 2:9 / 1 Peter 2:22

God The Holy Spirit

The Third Person of the tri-unity (Trinity), the Holy Spirit is God at work in the world and in the Church, even now.
The Holy Spirit is revealed in the Old Covenant as the giver of life, the One who spoke through the prophets. In the New Covenant, The Holy Spirit is revealed as the Lord who leads us into all truth and enables us to grow in the likeness of Christ. We recognize truths to be taught by the Holy Spirit when they are in accord with the Holy Scriptures.

The Holy Spirit seeks to fill us so that we experience Gods presence, receive supernatural gifts for the edification and empowerment of building of Gods Kingdom, and demonstrate the fruits of our union with Christ. Baptism of the Holy Spirit is additional to water baptism and is available to every believer.

John 16:7 / Acts 19:2-6 / Ephesians 1:13-14 / 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 / Galatians 5:22-23

The Bible

Also known as the Holy Scriptures, these are the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament consists of books written by the people of the Old Covenant, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to show God at work in nature and history. The New Testament consists of books written by the people of the New Covenant, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit about the life of Christ and the teachings of His church.

We collectively call them the Word of God and hold them as true and without error, because God inspired their human authors. God still speaks to us through the Bible by help of the Holy Spirit.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 / Proverbs 30:5 / 1 Thessalonians 2:13

The Fall of Humanity

We are part of God’s creation, made in the image of God, which means that we are free to make choices: to love, to create, to reason, and to live in harmony with creation and with God. It means that all people are worthy of respect and honor, because all are created in the image of God, and all can respond to the love of God.

However, with influence of Satan, a literal being and fallen angel cast from heaven, human beings have misused their freedom and made wrong choices from the very beginning. We rebel against God, and we put ourselves in the place of God. By rejecting God, Satan is now the temporary god of this world and seeks to blind humans to God and assert bondage through demonic influence.
However, Gods answer is Christ who is the good news of redemption.

Genesis 1:26-28 / Romans 3:23 / Isaiah 53:6 / 2 Corinthians 4:4 / Revelation 12:9

Sin and Redemption

Sin is seeking our own will instead of the will of God, thus distorting our relationship with God, other people, and all creation. Sin has power over us because we lose our liberty when our relationship with God is distorted.

Redemption is the act of God which sets us free from the power of evil, sin, and death. The Messiah or Christ, is Jesus of Nazareth, Gods son, sent by God to free us from the power of sin, so that with the help of God we may live in harmony with God, ourselves, our neighbors, and all creation.

Colossians 2:13-14 / Ezekiel 18:4 / James 1

Salvation

Salvation is the new relationship with God given by Jesus Christ to all who put their trust in Him. This is a free gift of Gods offering that cannot be earnt by religious activities or moral living. It should therefor be received by way of acceptance, repentance and faith in Christs death and resurrection.

Christ adopts us into his family through an inner transformation resulting in abundant life. The response He requires is to believe in Him and to keep His commandments – that we shall love God with all our heart, soul, and mind; and we shall love our neighbors as ourselves.

Christ also taught us the New Commandment, that we love one another as Christ loved us.

Luke 22:20 / Hebrews 9:15 / Hebrews 8:6

Baptism

Baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us as His children and makes us members of Christ’s Body, the Church, and inheritors of His Kingdom. The outward and visible sign in Baptism is water, in which the person is baptized in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The inward and spiritual grace in Baptism is union with Christ in His death and resurrection, birth into God’s family the Church and the forgiveness of sins, and new life in the Holy Spirit. At baptism, it is required that we renounce Satan, repent of our sins, and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

Colossians 2:12 / 1 Peter 3:21 / Galatians 3:27

Marriage

God has instituted that male and female are human forms made in his image for purpose of each other and procreation. The sacrament of marriage is a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman before

God, united to reflect Gods created order. All sexual activity outside this covenant is considered immorality and is contrary to Gods will.

Genesis 1:26-27 / Genesis 2:24 / 1 Cor 7:2-4 / 1 Thessalonians 4:2-5

Mission

God has been actively pursing the restoration of humanity to himself since the Fall. His mission culminated in the sending of his Son, Jesus Christ, to provide salvation and redemption. As the risen Christ commissioned his disciples to share his gospel to all peoples, so the believer is compelled to share the good news of Christ by the power of His Spirit.

Matthew 28:16-20 / John 20:21 / Acts 1:8 / Romans 10:14-15

Eternity

By heaven, we mean eternal life in our enjoyment of God. By hell, we mean eternal death in our rejection of God. By everlasting life, we mean a new existence, in which we are united with all the people of God, in the joy of fully knowing and loving God and each other.

Romans 6:23 / John 11:25-26 / John 4:14

The Hope of Christs Return

We trust the coming of Christ in glory and with His angels, brings the completion of God’s purpose for the world. He comes with power to judge the living and the dead and make all things new. Our assurance as Christians is that nothing, not even death, shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:34-35 / Hebrews 6:19 / John 10:28-30