This morning over breakfast, my two-year-old daughter Anneliese told me that church is “where we sing and pray and work!”
Not bad for two years old, huh? I want to unpack that a bit for the missional church:
Sing: the missional church sings songs of joy and sorrow. It gets down in the mucky-muck((A technical term, of course.)) of life and participates in daily life. Such a church doesn’t ignore what’s happening around it or become bound up in tradition-for-tradition’s-sake. A missional church is grounded in the community. At the same time, a missional church seeks to sing God’s song over the community, so that hearts are transformed and lives are changed. Note that little of this actually has to do with music, worship style. (John 15:19)
Pray: a missional church doesn’t seek its own way in the world. Instead, it’s passionately committed to knowing and following the Holy Spirit’s guidance. God has a mission – and we want to get on board. This change in attitude makes a missional church (Galatians 3:26)
Work: a missional church serves its community. It’s life comes from Christ, who identified with those who were counted last, least, and lost. It follows Jesus in hanging out with “tax collectors and sinners.” It’s not big or flashy; it’s attractive because it’s different. The people are apostles – literally, “sent ones.” (Matthew 9:10–11 and many other references)
Of course, there is more to a missional perspective on church. But I like church as the people with whom we “sing and pray and work.”
