Greg and I have been trying to engage some of the conversation about
our book. Believe it or not, we also do many other things besides blog
and read blogs. So unfortunately we will not be able to respond to
everything everyone wants us to respond to. I don’t have any
missions-related posts planned after this one.
But perhaps it would be helpful to think practically about how these
things play out on the ground level. I’ll start by giving some examples
from my church. At the end I also want to raise some questions for those
who want a more expansive definition of the church’s mission.
What We Do
First off, I should be clear that the things we write about in the
book are live discussions at URC too. I don’t claim that everyone in my
congregation agrees with everything I’ve written in the book. Most
haven’t even read the book yet (though I’ve preached on some of these
themes).
Having said that, here are some (only some) of things we do and how I think through them.
One woman in our church heads up a crisis pregnancy center. Another
woman has developed an inner-city arts ministry. Both ministries are on
our church budget. I am thankful for both organizations. People from our
church volunteer and help out at both places. At the same time, these
ministries are not under the authority of our elders. They have separate
boards. They get funding from many sources. Christians and
non-Christians can be thankful for what they do. Their work is not first
of all to win converts or make disciples. They try to help save babies
and teach art to kids. That’s great. They do good in the community. Our
folks who serve try to build relationships and talk about Jesus. Keep Reading >>>
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