Navigating the Maelstrom…of Missional Leadership in Traditional Settings – I am listening to a podcasted Q&A session with Erwin McManus and UK church leaders as I write. One person asks: How do you go about discerning how you can make the best contribution [with your life]?

Erwin’s reply is basically: focus on the things you are good at doing and which make the world a better place; also, the things you are good at that make you a better person: and, the focus on the things that you are passionate about.

We’re continuing our exploration of how those of us who are in traditional churches and denominations – and are becoming more missionally centred – can prosper and flourish. Last time I shared why I have chosen: not to leave the denomination; not to stay and expect less; and, not to try and live in two worlds (church and world). I choose something more than all of these, something yet to be given shape and form.

I quoted Len Sweet, who writes at the end of his book So Beautiful:

We were made to be more than men and women. Through the Spirit, we can become a force of nature.

Through the lens of Elijah’s mountain-top experience, I suggested that we are meant to be “thin-silence” people: living in proximity to humans wherever they are, in the way that God came close to Elijah. We perhaps want to be fire-people, or earthquake-people, or wind-people, but it was in the thin-silence that God broke into Elijah’s life.

I don’t think the question is: How do we become missional leaders? – as if there’s some stereotype. The question is: How do we become more missional? – the degree to which this happens in our lives will determine whether we become leaders of anyone or anything.

You must find the freedom to be you and I must find the freedom to be me. Your life is a result of the missional activity of God, who sought to give himself in creation. God is missional. Jesus is missional. The Holy Spirit is missional. And we who bear the image of God, we too are missional. Part of what it means to be human, then, is to be missional: to reach beyond our lives to bless the lives of others, so they too can reach out to others, to be fully alive. Then, the more we live out the possibilities to give God has created us for, the more missional we become.

Steven Hawthorne anchors this freedom well when he writes:

Passion is the heart set free to pursue that which is truly worthy. Those who set their hearts on that which is most worthy – the glory of God – live with joy-filled abandon. (Perspectives)

If God’s glory is seen as one side of a coin, the flip-side is our fully-realised humanity. I sometimes ask people: What is the purpose God has made you for within his creation-mission, which you will pursue for the rest of your life?

I think that maybe twenty percent of people know sooner-rather-than-later what do with their lives. There are lots of reasons why this might be: their particular talents and abilities; their environment and experiences; and how they have connected these up in order to move towards their future. It’s really more of a spectrum than a sharp 20/80 thing, but the important thing is that every person can take an intentional way; I know because I have been walking it for more than ten years. (And it’s the best; I have been more alive on this way then at any other time in my life. I really do believe the best is in front of us.)

Thin-silence people are true to who God has made them to be. Who they are emerges out of a conversation that they are engaged in with God. (It also emerges out of the conversations they have with others – we seriously miss the point of this in traditional churches and denominations, in which we mirror the individualistic culture of which we are a part.) Out of these conversations there emerge dreams. They do not know if the dreams have come from them or from God, and it doesn’t really matter because thin-silence people find themselves talking to God about these dreams, and God is asking questions and encouraging them to begin trying out the things they are passionate about, and he tells them he likes what they are dreaming and doing.

FOUR ELEMENTS AND A MYSTERIOUS COMPANY OF TEN
Here are four elements which have really helped me explore the missional life: Self-Awareness, Ingenuity (Creativity), Love, and Heroism. I see these four elements as being key to prospering as missional people in traditional churches and denominations.

A missional company of ten began living out these four elements some 350 years ago. Within a decade this small band had journeyed to four continents.

A growing self-awareness had allowed them to be honest and confident in what they could and could not do, what they were passionate about, and how they connected with God.

Knowing what they were meant to do with their lives allowed them to move quickly and creatively – they would say “Live with one foot raised.”

As they reached out to others with the love of God, they saw the image of God in the different peoples they met and they loved them thoroughly. This extension of love saw amazing creativity being released in different peoples, and they also expressed an openness to learn from them.

This way of living saw them on an odyssey of discovery and giving. It saw them living their lives in heroic ways for others.

Self-Awareness – Ingenuity – Love – Heroism: these mark our journey of becoming a force of nature for God. There are no shortcuts.

What do you think?

Next time I’ll begin to unpack some of this.