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{"id":530,"date":"2010-07-27T09:16:15","date_gmt":"2010-07-27T15:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raincitypastor.wordpress.com\/?p=530"},"modified":"2010-07-27T09:16:15","modified_gmt":"2010-07-27T15:16:15","slug":"missional-evangelism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/2010\/07\/27\/missional-evangelism\/","title":{"rendered":"“Missional & Evangelism”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

how is missional living related to evangelism?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Listen to how Peterson articulates our calling:<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t begin by traveling to some far oof place to convert unbelievers. \u00a0And don\u2019t try to be dramatic by tackling some public enemy. \u00a0God to the lost, confused people rigfht here in the neighborhood. \u00a0Tell them that the kingdom is here. \u00a0Bring health to the sick. \u00a0Raise the dead. \u00a0Touch the untouchables. \u00a0Kick out the demons. \u00a0You have been treated generously, so live generously.\u201d <\/strong><\/em>(Matthew 9:5-7)<\/p>\n

There are two pieces to this exhortation.<\/p>\n

The second piece<\/strong> is this: \u00a0Make God\u2019s good reign visible in your neighborhood, among people who need to see the compassion, mercy, justice, healing power, and generosity of God. \u00a0Jesus is telling us to live out the ethic of the kingdom by being the people of blessing we\u2019re called to be. \u00a0We, each of us, have gifts to give \u2013 ways we can be a blessing in our city, among our neighbors. \u00a0We need to get on with it, right in the midst of our own living, right in the midst of dealing with the reality of our own brokenness. \u00a0Wait until we\u2019re perfectly fixed before we begin serving and we\u2019ll begin waiting forever. \u00a0I addressed this piece in the sermon from this past Sunday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But BEFORE the second piece, there\u2019s the first piece: \u00a0\u201cTell them that the kingdom is here.\u201d<\/strong> This is called evangelism. \u00a0That little phrase, \u201cthe kingdom\u201d carries a big punch. \u00a0It means that God\u2019s reign has begun. \u00a0By virtue of the resurrection, the kingdom is here, in covert expressions, existing outside of the power structures of this world.<\/p>\n

Note that the citizens of the kingdom all share some things in common: They\u2019ve repented.<\/strong> That means that they\u2019ve heard about the king, and His reign, and have declared their intent to live under that reign. \u00a0They\u2019ve decided to change the way they live, embracing a new economic ethic, or sexual ethic, or set of priorities, all of which are rooted in becoming a new person.<\/p>\n

This encounter, with the king and the kingdom is foundational. \u00a0You can\u2019t actually be part of the kingdom without becoming a citizen, and you can\u2019t become a citizen without repentance. \u00a0Some of us would like to simply invite people to get on with feeding the hungry and clothing naked while never mentioning Jesus. \u00a0To do so would be a giant exercise in missing the point, because the truth of it is that, to go the distance, to lay down my life, I need to become a different kind of person.<\/p>\n

The first without the second is nothing more than a host of NGO\u2019s. \u00a0But, as even this atheist journalist <\/a>says, Jesus makes all the difference.<\/p>\n

The second without the first, is the tired pietism that reduces the gospel to a legal transaction, grating me a ticket to heaven while bypassing my need to live differently here and now.<\/p>\n

We need both. \u00a0This fall, our church has\u00a0signed on for the upcoming \u201cHarvest Festival\u201d <\/a>in November, which is an outreach to our city with Pastor Greg Laurie. \u00a0Greg\u2019s an evangelist, and he will be talking about the universal problem with the human condition, which is that all of us are separated from God. \u00a0He\u2019ll show us that Christ is the answer. \u00a0He will, as all gifted evangelists do, challenge every person to respond to what the Holy Spirit is doing \u2013 to invite each person to accept Christ.<\/p>\n

This is good, and appropriate. \u00a0Whether our local church will agree with every fine point of style, music, and articulation isn\u2019t that important. \u00a0That Greg preaches Christ and lays the foundation for people to enter God\u2019s story is what matters.<\/p>\n

What matters just as much is that those who receive Christ be invited into the work God is doing, the work of making God\u2019s good reign visible in our city. \u00a0That\u2019s why we want to be there to follow up with people and welcome them into the work God is doing.<\/p>\n

Missonal \u2013 and Evangelistic. \u00a0Asking which is more important is like lobbying for inhaling or exhaling.<\/a> I pray that we who follow Christ will embrace both elements.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"