The first priority of the church is not mission but confession. Any emphasis on being missional that is not already clear on what it means to be confessional will misrepresent the person and work of Christ and hinder the work of the church.
I like it. Being missional is right-on but one can be missional for all of the wrong reasons or become missional focussed such that the real target is missed. The point Downes makes is that right doctrine (and heart) demands missions while missions does not necessarily demand right doctrine and spirit.
Technorati Tags: evangelism, missional, outreach
3 comments:
While I understand Downes' sentiments, I think that this sends us in a direction that indicates that we ought to be separating the confession from the mission. For my mind, this is perhaps the sort of end of things that James is referring to: "But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do." James 2:18
If someone goes out to minister with a confession of "Jesus loves me, this I know for the bible tells me so" - then I think that person is a valuable contributor to the Kingdom of God. Should we understand who Christ is in order that we can represent Jesus well: absolutely. I just think that sometimes in participating in the mission of God - we find out some of who Jesus is: acting ourselves into a right way of thinking rather than thinking our way into a right way of acting
Geoff - I like that ... "acting ourselves into a right way of thinking rather than thinking our way into a right way of acting". There is definitely space for this. Thanks for the add.
I'll still contend for a solid foundation from which to spring forward from but you are right on, springing forward is part of building that foundation and if one never springs forward, the foundation is of no value.
If I understand the quote correctly, a denomination like the PCA, which I am a part of, should feel released and free to be missional, since we are a confessional church. We can be confident missionally because of our firm foundation of doctrine and faith.
Bill from ProvocativeChurch
Post a Comment