[featured_image]Welcome to Day 16 as you Take the Missional Challenge!
Take the Missional Challenge is a 31 Day experience designed to help align believers with Jesus’ mission. Each day’s post includes missional concepts and activities. For more information – click here.
Every heart with Christ, a missionary; every heart without Christ, a mission field. (Dick Hillis, Missionary to Asia, Founder of OC International)
Those are powerful words. Every Christian is a missionary – a sent one – sent by Jesus with the message of the cross together in community with other Christians to engage those in culture wherever they live.
No one can say: ‘Since I’m not called to be a missionary, I do not have to evangelize my friends and neighbors.’ There is no difference, in spiritual terms, between a missionary witnessing in his home town and a missionary witnessing in Katmandu, Nepal. We are all called to go—even if it is only to the next room, or the next block. (Thomas Hale, On Being a Missionary)
Chapter 4 in Six-Word Lessons to Discover Missional Living focuses on ways to Think and Act Like a Missionary in your own zip code. Missional activities start wherever you are. You don’t have to travel overseas to be a missionary. You can be a missionary where you live, where you work, and where you play.
Lesson 30: Every believer is sent on mission. Every believer is sent somewhere – either to their local culture or a distant culture.
DAY 16 ACTION STEP: Adopt Missional Thinking and Behaviors
If you are going to be live as a missionary in your own zip code, identifying what missionaries “do” is a critical starting point. Simply understood, missional behaviors are missionary behaviors.
1. Consider these missionary (missional) behaviors:
- Missionaries exegete their culture.
- Missionaries contextualize the gospel.
- Missionaries plant the gospel in the culture.
- Missionaries multiply disciples.
- Missionaries start new churches.
- Missionaries transform communities.
- Missionaries equip indigenous leaders.
- Missionaries encourage new believers.
- Missionaries get out of the way.
- Missionaries keep doing it again and again.
2. Commit yourself to obey anything the Spirit is leading you to do!
“As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you.” – Jesus (John 20:21)
Day 16 Missional Challenge: Missional behaviors are missionary behaviors. Start thinking and acting like a missionary everywhere you go.
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