Missional Living

Tonight I was doing some research for a message on “missional” living. I ran across some great quotes by Ed Stetzer, Mark Driscoll, and Erwin McManus. The more I have read about Missional Theology, the more I am drawn to it. I really enjoyed Ed Stetzers book, Breaking the Missional Code. In it, he challenges churches to be Biblically faithful, culturally relevant, and counter culture. Here are some of the better quotes.

Churches fight over going from organ to guitars; then from guitars to keyboards; then from keyboards back to organs because retro is back in… in the end, it is never about the music style, but about whether or not the church is focused on entertaining and placating Christians or reaching its culture.
-Erwin McManus (from here)

Every institution that has as its primary focus the study of the Bible eventually drifts toward liberalism. The more you turn the Bible into an educational tool, and the less you follow it as a manual of radical discipleship that leads you to love and serve people, the more you go toward religiosity and away from Jesus
-Erwin McManus (from here)

Before anything else, the church and its ministry must be biblically faithful. We need to remember that our purpose is to apply that creativity in biblically and culturally relevant ways. The reason we engage culture is not to be cool, trendy, contemporary, or cutting edge—words that have become idols to us—but so that those who live in culture can hear the message of Jesus. That message is more than just “come to Christ,” it involves how we live and structure our lives, and it matters deeply. Our churches should share the gospel message wherever they are and whatever their cultural context. They should be known as people who love God’s Word and seek to live differently because of it.
-Ed Stetzer

Churches that are biblically faithful to God’s mission will work to relate to people in culture. We who are Christians should look similar to, but not be identical to, our culture. If we don’t, people will assume that being a Christian simply means being different—dressing differently, listening to different music styles, and voting the same way. They’ll confuse Christianity with a change of clothes, music, and political party registration. That means that Christians should use language, dress, and live life in the “house” of culture, while living differently because they are in the family of God.
-Ed Stetzer

Will your church have a mission of community, or be a community of mission?
-Mark Driscoll