I toss around the idea and dream of missional communities that impact a person's heart, life, relationships, community and city with the Gospel. Today I read an article by an author, pastor, speaker that I highly respect, Gordon MacDonald. Not because of his greatness but because in his brokenness he learned a ton about the grace and mercy of Christ.
Here he talks about something different than a missional church or community but the dangers of missionalism. Here are a few of his thoughts:
It's a leader's disease. Like a common cold that begins with a small cough, missionalism catches on in a leader's life and seems at first so inconsequential. But let this disease catch hold and you are likely to have bodies strewn all over the place, the leader's and some of the leader's followers.
Missionalism starts slowly and gains a foothold in the leader's attitude. Before long the mission controls almost everything: time, relationships, health, spiritual depth, ethics, and convictions.
Missionalism catches hold when an idea is bigger than a person and overwhelms the soul's ability to constrain it and direct it.
Missionalism—the passionate need to keep things growing and growing so that one proves his/her worth—can catch hold from various sources. For some of us, it came early in life when we discovered that we got a lot of love when we went forward to dedicate our lives to Christian service.
Comedian Robin Williams, who has lived his life rather frantically, checks into a rehab clinic (our modern version of a monastery) and when he comes out two months later, tells Diane Sawyer what he's learned.
"All any of us want is to be loved," he says. Could that be what's behind missionalism? A suspicion that if I build and build and build, doing all these good things, that people will love me? Do bigger accomplishments equate to more love?
"All any of us want is to be loved," he says. Could that be what's behind missionalism? A suspicion that if I build and build and build, doing all these good things, that people will love me? Do bigger accomplishments equate to more love?
Read the whole article and insights on how to protect your heart, mind and relationships from the dangers of Missionalism: click here.
Categories: God, Movements, Leadership, ChurchPlanting, SimpleChurch
1 comment:
Great article Steve! I love the perspective. I must admit that I don't much care for his final quote about St. Francis, which is so often misused, but his viewpoint is right on.
Post a Comment