Mission Mindset
What I mean is a mindset that sees us as missionaries to a lost, hurting, hopeless, sinful, and darkened world. I want us to see ourselves as ones who are sent by God to bring the good news of all that He has done through Jesus Christ into this world.
The Unfashionable Church
I am currently listening to a sermon series called The Unfashionable Church by Tullian Tchividjian of New City Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The series was recently published into a book by Multnomah Books and is very challenging. Tullian describes an unfashionable church like this,
“An unfashionable church is a church that is shaped by what God loves and not what the world loves. An unfashionable church refuses to give-in and go along. It’s a church that’s not afraid to dig in and be out of style. It’s a church that’s not afraid to be unpopular. It’s not a poll-taking church. An unfashionable church doesn’t ask what is going on in the world that is popular and then let’s adjust our sights accordingly. An unfashionable church is much more concerned about being faithful in the world than to be popular with the world. An unfashionable church is a church that is not afraid to follow God’s lead and to do God’s will. It’s a church that walks by faith and not by sight…It’s not simply a church that just talks about walking by faith and not by sight; it is a church that walks by faith and not by sight. It is a church that understands that everything we are and everything we have belongs to God, so that we are truly owners of nothing but stewards of everything. An unfashionable church is a God-centered church, a God-saturated church, a God-intoxicated church. It’s a church that cares much more about what God thinks than about what others think.”Tribal or Missionary
In his sixth sermon in the series (February 8, 2009), Tullian makes the distinction between a church with a tribal mindset and a church with a missionary mindset. He says a church can think of itself in either of these two ways.
Tribal Mindset – Self-Protection
Tullian describes a tribal church as a self-protecting church. “The highest value of a community that has a tribal mindset is self-protection.” His point is that the church wants to protect itself from the evil that is in the world. So, as a tribe, it not only isolates itself from the world but protects itself from the world. A church with a tribal mindset gathers together and builds thick walls around it to protect itself from the evil world.
Missionary Mindset – Self-Sacrifice
“In contrast to a tribal minded community, the highest value of a mission minded community is not self-protection but self-sacrifice.” His point here is that a missionary minded church exists not for itself, but primarily for others. It exists to do all that is “biblically allowable” to reach others with the gospel of Jesus Christ. “It is a community that is willing to be inconvenienced, discomforted, and spent for the gladness of others in the greatness of God.”
The Gospel Demands a Missionary Mindset
The gospel, he says, informs our mission because of the mission of Jesus Christ. “The gospel of Jesus Christ demands that we be missionary minded and not tribally minded because the gospel is God’s story of sacrificing Himself for His enemies.” Jesus, the ultimate example, wasn’t self-protecting but self-sacrificing. He laid down His life for the sake of others.
CrossWay Community Church
That is the kind of church that I long for CrossWay increasingly to become – a church that exists for the sake of others. A church that is mission minded. A church that is not afraid to follow God when it involves cost, and sacrifice, and inconvenience to reach others with gospel; a church that exists to make Christ known, and loved, and worshipped to a lost, hurting, hopeless, sinful, and darkened world. Would you join me in living and helping others at CrossWay live like that?
