Why Mission Teams?
At the most fundamental level, it is a constant reminder of who we are and how we should go about ‘being’: We are a people of mission, and that mission should be lived out with a team of people. If a true sign of Godliness—imitating God—is to pattern our lives after Him, then we need to observe how Jesus went about his life and align with what we see. What was clearly modeled for us was a mission-driven life, lived out with a small group of people he intentionally developed and was on mission with—his Mission Team.
Also, there is power in language. Language sets the culture. One of One Life’s core values is missional thinking. That value has to extend out to our smaller groupings of Christian communities. We want to be a church full of teams that view themselves as missionaries sent by God to help people far from God experience Jesus in Evansville-Henderson-and wherever we plant a church. This goes beyond merely viewing themselves that way. It includes being able to tell you how they are living missionally, in the same way a returning missionary can excitedly recount exactly—in great detail—the stories about what God did in and through them.
The shift to ‘Mission Teams’ is a decidedly contextualized move. In the wider/general American cultural experience, Christianity is popularly being polarized. On one side of the spectrum you have a section of our society that is moving ever closer to Post-Christian. On the other side you have a highly visual, highly vocal, more Fundamental expression of Christianity that looks an awful lot like Biblical Phariseeism.
Mission Teams can be the vehicle that bridge this great divide and are perfectly poised to revolutionize the way Christian communities live out their faith in our current American context and break down the perception of Christianity by the wider culture.
Mission Teams are the vehicle that can bridge this great divide. Hit on a few of the most important parts before moving on:
A highly skeptical audience needs to see the Church changing the world before they will believe Jesus will change their lives. It is not merely enough to tell people Jesus is their salvation anymore. They need to experience it in tangible ways. This is precisely what happened in the ancient world when Christianity overthrew the established worldview through constant and consistent outward compassion. This is what Mission Teams can be, the change agent in our communities that give people a glimpse at the Kingdom of God. They will then be more receptive to the verbal message.
Stereotypes breakdown in relationships. A simple breakdown that is creating this cultural gap: People in our culture aren’t experiencing the Church outside the church building and the Church isn’t experiencing people where they naturally live out life. There are true blue atheists and true blue fundamentalists, but they are a small percentage of the spectrum. Most people are functionally centrists despite what is portrayed in popular media. Mission Teams can serve as the vehicle that get Christians working alongside unchurched people, shoulder-to-shoulder, where the caricatures of both sides will be naturally lost. Both will see people and be moved toward love.
We will all be confronted with our inadequacies. If our Mission Teams are truly successful at even attempting to help people far from God experience Jesus, then a whole lot of conversations are bound to happen. What should result is a healthy awareness of where we are all falling short. Our current cultural milieu is producing a society that is horribly lacking in introspection, reflection and self-awareness. This creates for a great opportunity for Christian communities…one we are not ready to meet. Yet. One weakness of our culture is that it has lost any semblance of transcendence or higher purpose. Mission Teams can be poised and ready to go, delivering the Good News of Jesus in both word and deed, modeling and communicating the transcendent reality that is the power of the Church. Unfortunately, we don’t know the Good News, or aren’t comfortable communicating it, or don’t know how it should shape our actions, so we miss this chance. But the opportunity is there for Mission Teams to step right into that gap.
Mission Teams tap into the ethos of the emerging Millennial leaders.What we know about the Millennials is that they have a driving entrepreneurial spirit, they are leaving organizational churches at unprecedented levels, they are still seeking transcendence, they are the largest and most irreligious generation in American history, they have an impatience—that positively expressed—won’t abide inaction, and because of the internet they are by far the most connected and informed generation in the history of humankind. Yes, they need community/fellowship, but the Church has to be able to offer the next generation of leaders more. Imagine that above description equipped, resourced, and then unleashed to change the world. Now imagine the Church as being where the Millennials know to go in order to get that done.