sustain:if:able kiwi

Mission and missional: Why “a” and “l” are way more than a typo part 2

Last week I provided a piece on the difference between mission and missional and why that “a” and the “l” were much more than a type. I sought to draw on resources from the Bible and church history.

Today I found this wonderful personal story of what it means to be missional in Pete Ward’s Participation And Mediation: A Practical Theology for the Liquid Church.

I set myself the task of journeying into the world of young people and meeting them in situations where they felt at home. The idea was that I went to their territory. The meant that I was the visitor in a context where they were in control and they set the rules. Needless to say this was not at all easy, but interestingly almost from the start I felt that this kind of ministry was a deeply spiritual practice. Going to young people, rather than asking them to come to me, gave me a strong sense that I was in some way sharing God’s love and concern for the world. In fact more than that, I was struck by the conviction that the Holy Spirit was there with the young people even before I arrived. So I wasn’t just meeting young people, there was also a sense in which I was meeting God.

For more on this book and it’s application to mission.