Our missional assignment
This post is from the defunct blog “Dying Church”
The North American Church is suffering from severe mission amnesia. It has forgotten why it exists. The church was created to be the people of God to join him in his redemptive mission to the world. The church was never intended to exist for itself. It was and is the chosen instrument of God to expand his kingdom. The church is the bride of Christ. Its union with him is designed for reproduction, the growth of the kingdom. Jesus does not teach his disciples to pray, "Thy church come." The kingdom is the destination. In its institutional preoccupation the church has abandoned its real identity and reason for existence. God did not give up on his mission in the Old Testament, when Israel refused to partner with God. God is a reckless lover. He decided to go on with the mission himself. We do not need to be mistaken about this: if the church refuses its missional assignment, God will do it another way. The church has, and he is. God is pulling end runs around the institutional North American church to get people in the streets. God is inviting us to join him on mission, but it is the invitation to be part of a movement, not a religious club. (Reggie McNeal, The Present Future)