God and a people on the move

I have added the logo "Friend of Missional" to the blog - you can click on the logo to go directly to the site for a more detailed description. This is just one of many places where a conversation about what it means to be a mission-centered church is happening. While words and images can be used to talk about "missional", for me the conversation is the reflection of a growing set of deeper understandings about the church AND about what it means to be a Christ-follower. Over the coming weeks, I would like to share some of these understandings, and would love to hear your thoughts.

We cannot talk about our mission as Christ-followers without first talking about God. Creator, Initiator, Redeemer, Peace, Father, Mother - - all of these names for God imply a God of action. The story of scripture further reveals a God who shows compassion, delivers judgment, changes course, journeys with people, and one who shows up in a variety of ways in the lives of all kinds of people. God is a Being of action.

One of the results to being open to the missional conversation is my growing understanding of the way in which God continues to be a God of action and intervention today. While the Bible is a revelation of God, God's story is not finally or completely contained in scripture. God is not finished shaping, calling, creating, renewing and transforming. Therefore, we as God's followers are called to stay open and attentive to how God is acting today. As the church, we are called to be a collection of Christ-followers seeking to respond to God's activity and to move along with God.

Part of my vision for church planting is to foster a space where we can discern together how God is still acting today. Church should never be about delivering a fixed set of doctrines, but about listening, learning and growing together. I want us to engage in conversation. Where do we hear, feel and see God acting our world, in our community, and in our individual lives? How should we respond? Instead of being an institution of religion, how can we be a people moving with God?

I pray that whatever shape this new church takes it will honor the God of action that is revealed in scripture and that continues to be revealed today.